


Bandmates

by Yeb_v3



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Fluff, M/M, No Despair, No killing game, University AU, band au, i guess??, probably angst later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-05-17 01:44:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 44,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14822849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeb_v3/pseuds/Yeb_v3
Summary: It's Ouma Kokichi's dream to be in a band. So he decides to form one, and attempts to become the greatest and most popular band of all time. He has the confidence to play to the largest crowds, and take over the world.Too bad he doesn't have the confidence to tell his crush that he loves him.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a fanfiction, and I really like this idea, so I decided to try my hand at writing it. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

Ouma Kokichi loved music. That's where this all begun. Those late nights spent listening through discographies of many an artist, no regard for the following day, completely absorbed in the music. The music resonated with him, it meant something to him, bought him through hard times and made the good times even better. Shortly put, music was important to Ouma. It was live music that would make him want to form a band.

The noise, the lights, the sweat, the enthusiasm of concerts, all of these things combined made Ouma want to live that life. It made him want to form a band. A band that could play the largest shows across the world, with music that would stay with people forever. He wanted to share his love of music with other people. So he set about forming the greatest band of all time. But to do that he needed bandmates. He would form the greatest band of all time.

When he finally got to it, Saihara Shuichi was his first point of call. The two boys had been best friends since the early days of school. They would spend all of their time together, whether it was studying or roaming the late night streets of the local area. They had been through plenty of hard times together, and considered each other incredibly close. Now both going to the same university, they were roommates. Saihara was one of few people who could deal with Ouma's 'difficult' personality. He seemed to be able to cope with Ouma's antics and mischievous ways, and could always look past any lies Ouma would tell. Ouma loved being roommates with his best friend, the only problem was that he had a massive crush on Saihara. Ever since they met, Ouma knew he would fall in love with the boy, and sure enough he did. It was his perfect looks, his caring ways, his beautiful eyes, and the fact that he made Ouma feel safe. He just didn't know if Saihara felt the same way, and he was scared that if he confessed and Saihara didn't like him back, he would lose him. So Ouma sat back and hoped that Saihara would eventually confess to him. 

Apart from this, life between the two of them was normal. They went to their individual classes, spent a lot of together, and they both enjoyed the others company. Ouma loved Saihara, but he would have to wait a while before their relationship began.But right now Ouma needed Saihara to join his purely hypothetical band. 

"Saihaaaaaara!" Ouma called out across the apartment.  
It was early Saturday morning, so Saihara really didn't need this disturbance as he tried to get some extra sleep. He didn't have any classes today.  
"Hm?" The half asleep boy questioned.  
"Come in here! Quickly! It's im-por-tant!" Ouma sung.

Sensing the lie, Saihara ignored the request and went back to sleep. Annoyed by the fact that his obviously important request was disregarded by the one person he cared for, Ouma stormed into Saihara's room, determined to wake him from his elongated slumber. He shook the sleeping boy, bringing him out his attempt at a rest.

"Ouma, what do you want?" Saihara mumbled, wiping sleep from his eyes. Saihara enjoyed having Ouma as his roommate, but his antics could be a lot to handle. The fact that Saihara had a massive crush on the smaller boy made trouble all worth it. Saihara didn't know if Ouma reciprocated these feelings, so he hoped one day Ouma would confess to him.

"I have something really important to ask you, my beloved Saihara!"  
'Beloved' had always been a nickname almost, which Ouma constantly used in reference to Saihara, neither of them even considering the implications of the word anymore.  
"What is it?" Saihara replied.  
"Well, I was making some toast, and..." Ouma trailed off, taking advantage of Saihara's attention to play a joke on him.  
"And what?" Saihara replied.  
"Let's just say that... the entire kitchen burnt to the ground!"  
"Oh dear. Is that all you wanted to tell me?" Saihara's annoyance was obvious within his tired voice.  
"You really don't care about the kitchen? I swear I'm not lying!"  
"Ouma, can I go back to sleep now?" Despite Saihara tolerating Ouma's behaviour, it still lost him several hours of sleep. 

"Weeeeell, there was actually something, about my scheme to take over the world."  
Saihara had forgotten about the boys strange fascination with being the ruler of the world.  
"I figured that since I can't control hordes of adoring fans by becoming a supreme leader, I would achieve the same thing by becoming the frontman of the worlds greatest band!" Ouma stated with his trademark confidence. Saihara knew of Ouma's appreciation of music, he shared it to an extent, but he didn't know that Ouma wanted to form a band.  
"Hm? And how do plan on doing this?" Saihara was confused, tired and a tad bit amused.  
Ouma looked at him in disbelief. Despite Saihara's incredible intelligence, and detective like observation skills, he could be a real dumbass at times.  
"I'm going to form my own band, of course!" Ouma stated the obvious to Saihara. "And I want you to be my lead guitarist!" Ouma cheerfully said, pointing at the other boy.

Saihara was even more confused than before.  
"Eh? I can't play guitar!"  
"Don't trying to lie to me Saihara! I've seen you play it before! Remember that party? I can't believe you actually played wonderwall!"  
Saihara did remember that party, and how he used to play guitar years ago. But he hadn't touched one in years. He'd drifted away from playing the guitar because of that party. Ouma probably couldn't remember what happened there, but Saihara remembered all too well, and exactly why he never wanted to play the instrument again. He decided to come up with something to change the topic.

"Ouma, I've probably forgotten how to even play it, and I don't even have one anymore!" Saihara attempted to defend himself from the words of the smaller boy, but it wasn't good enough.  
"Another lie, my beloved! I thought you'd know better than to try and slip lies past me!" Ouma swung open Saihara's wardrobe, to reveal a guitar, set down on the floor. He picked it up, walked over to Saihara's bed and set it down, kicking up a cloud of dust. Saihara sighed.  
"Come on, Saihara!" Ouma chirped. "Just like riding a bike. Probably. Once you've learned it, you'll never forget it!"   
Saihara had met his match. He didn't like saying no to Ouma, mainly because he didn't like to see him sad. He had no apparent way to say no, unless he wanted to explain to Ouma the reason he stopped playing guitar. Saihara did a lot of things for Ouma. This fact led to Saihara having partook in many weird things or strange schemes. But he didn't mind, as he was with Ouma throughout those times.  
"Okay, fine. I'll be in your band." Saihara sighed in defeat.  
"Yaaaaay! Thank you Saihara!" Ouma exclaimed, visibly excited. "I will hold you to this Saihara! Our band will rule the world one day!" 

Ouma left the room, still carrying energy and excitement as he moved.  
"What have I gotten myself into?" Saihara muttered, picking up his guitar. He decided he would look past his regrets and mistakes, and do what he can to make Ouma happy. He picked up the guitar, and almost instantly his muscle memory kicked in. Ouma was right. It was exactly like a bike, he hadn't forgotten a thing. He started playing a familiar tune, something from a song he loved, but hadn't heard in a while. He sat, picking out the slow melody, wondering why Ouma's want to form a band came on so quickly.

Ouma left Saihara's room, pleased that he was actually able to convince the other boy. He decided that, of the back of his lie, he actually wanted a slice of toast. As he buttered the piece of bread, he heard something from Saihara's room. He listened closely, and heard the sound of a guitar. It was a slow melody, he recognised it, and it made him nostalgic. Nostalgic for the time him and Saihara spent together. He stood in silence, thinking. Thinking about the other boy, and how much he meant to him. He hoped one day he could tell him his true feelings.

But now was time for his newly founded band, not his hopeless love life. He now had 1 of two guitarists, but needed the rest. He needed a rhythm guitarist, a bassist and a drummer. As for vocals, he himself would tackle that. But he needed to get other band members together, and he had an idea of who could be his drummer.


	2. Old friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ouma and Saihara need a drummer. An old friend is their first pick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kind comments and support on the first chapter! I never even expected anyone to read this, never mind leave a comment or kudos! Thank you, and please enjoy this next chapter!

Ouma knew exactly where he had to go to find his drummer. An old friend he hadn't talked to in a while. He was sure he would want to join the band, hopefully. Only If he still played the drums, which it was a possibility that he'd stopped. The two hadn't spoke in a while, so he could've dropped the instrument and Ouma would not know a thing about it. But it was worth a try at least.

"Come on Saihara, we need to leave soon!" The smaller boy's excited voice resounded across the apartment. Saihara, having only just woken up, did not understand what was happening.  
"Eh? What do you mean? W-where are you going?" Saihara grumbled, tired and confused.  
"We, my beloved, are leaving the apartment on official band business! It's critical you come with me."  
Saihara was defenceless against the commands of the other boy, but he could at least try.  
"Wha- why? It's far too early! And what is so important that we both need to go?"  
"It's never too early to find bandmates, Saihara! And for the person I have in mind, I'll need your help." Saihara was forcefully dragged along by Ouma.

Before Saihara knew it, he was dressed, and about to leave the house with Ouma. He still didn't really know what he was doing or where they were going- he still felt half asleep. But as Ouma insisted, he was part the band, so he guessed he should be present for all important decisions.  
"Right!" Ouma stated, flashing a full grin and with a heart full of confidence. "Let's go get us a drummer!"

Kaito Momota was, at one point, a good friend of both Ouma and Saihara. The three of them went through school together, spending a lot of time hanging out. He would usually find himself caught up in Ouma's many antics, but he was far less tolerant of Ouma's mischief than Saihara was. While he wasn't as close to the other two as Saihara and Ouma were to each other, he still considered them close friends. This all stopped when Momota decided to not go to the same university as the other two, and instead accepted a prestigious apprenticeship at the space agency.

Despite sharing phone numbers, the two of them eventually lost contact with Momota. They hadn't talked in about a year, but Ouma could still remember where Momota lived. It was not too far away from where him and Saihara lived, so they could walk the distance. The pair would head to Momota's apartment because at some point in time, Momota could play the drums. It was a hobby Ouma was vaguely aware of while the two of them were still in contact, but he didn't know if Momota still played. So Ouma decided he needed to recruit Momota. Well, it was his best shot at getting a drummer onboard. They set off for Momota's apartment, Ouma leading the way.

Saihara still felt clueless to what was going on. Ouma had been speeding across the streets for a bit now, Saihara still not knowing where they were heading to.  
"When are you going to tell me where we are going?" A drowsy Saihara struggled to keep up with Ouma, who was almost running down the streets.  
"Remember Momota? Old school friend?" Ouma replied to the boy behind him.  
"Oh, Momota? You're going to ask him to be our drummer?"   
The use of the word 'our' to describe the band made Ouma's heart skip a beat. He was happy to see Saihara already wanting to be a part of the band. Ouma loved that about Saihara, he would support and partake in any crazy scheme Ouma would come up with. He loved that, and well, everything else about Saihara.

"Right on the money, my beloved! The great Momota Kaito will be our drummer!" Ouma's trademark bombast shone through as he said this.  
"But we haven't been in contact with him for over a year now, how do you expect him to join our band all of a sudden? Can he even play drums?" Saihara raised perfectly good concerns, but they were instantly shot down by Ouma's infectious positive outlook.  
"I just think he'd be the perfect fit for the band! If he doesn't know drums, he'll be able to learn quick enough! It'll be easy!"  
"I don't think it's that simple Ouma..." Saihara doubted Ouma's optimism.  
"Oh, Stop worrying, Saihara! There's no better way to rekindle old friendships than music, wouldn't you agree?" Ouma stated this with a bright smile, making the other boy blush slightly.

They arrived outside of Momota's apartment building. The building itself didn't appear too different from their own apartment building, apart from this one being a bit bigger. Ouma instantly marched towards the door he knew belonged to Momota. He went right up to it, and almost knocked on the door before-  
"Wait! Are sure this is the right door? I mean you've not talked to this guy in ages, you could've easily forgotten the door number!" Saihara was being his usual paranoid self. There were a couple moments of awkward silence between the two of them.  
"Saihara, did you not know that I am famous for my impeccable memory?" Ouma joked.  
"Oh really?" The taller boy replied, playing into Ouma's jest.  
"I am lying of course, but you can trust me on this, I remember clearly what number he lived at. Trust me, ok?" Ouma looked at Saihara semi seriously, but still retaining his mischief in his gaze.

"Ok, i trust you." Saihara replied. He trusted Ouma greatly, but really just wanted to avoid any awkward situations. But Saihara wondered, did Ouma trust him? 

A loud knock rang out on the door. A few footsteps on the other side of the door, the rattling of a lock, and the door swung open. On the other side, a tall, well built guy with messy, purple hair and a tired expression stood.   
"Yuh-huh, what do ya wa- huh? Ouma? Saihara? What are you guys doing here?  
I've not seen you guys in ages!" The boy was genuinely shocked at their presence.  
Ouma smiled at Momota, and replied to him with great enthusiasm.  
"Momota, I have the proposition of a lifetime for you!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to try and update this fairly often, every few days or so. Yet again, thank you for reading!


	3. Old times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saihara and Ouma attempt to convince an old friend to join their band, just like old times.

"You want me to do what?"   
Momota was now slightly more awake, having let the other two boys into his apartment. He held a warm cup of coffee in his hands, and his hair was still a unruly purple mass. Ouma decided this all needed to happen very early, much to Saihara and Momota's annoyance.

"You need to be in our band Momota! Pleaaase? You'd be a fantastic drummer!"  
Ouma tried using his infectious 'charm' to sway Momota, bur he didn't seem easily persuaded.  
"Why would I do that? I've not touched the kit in months."  
Ah. Ouma's one worry.  
"Anyway, last time I was a part of one of your schemes, we got in deep shit. I don't exactly want to get in any kind of trouble at the moment."  
Ouma remembered all the times the three of them broke many rules, and got in far too much trouble for any normal teenagers. He also remembered how he came up with all of the plans that landed them in trouble. Momota had a completely valid point. But he wouldn't let this fact stop him.

"Aww, please Momota?" Ouma put on his largest puppy dog eyes, using his talent of faking any emotion at any given moment. "I promise this won't end badly for anyone!"  
"No! I'm not doing it man! Anyway, I have far too much work to do. I can't afford to run off and join some band!"  
Saihara sat back and silently observed the back and forth bickering between the two boys. It felt just like old times, right back to their school days. He sat in this almost trance like state, until Ouma's voice abruptly brought him back into the real world.

"Come on, Saiharaaa! Help me out here!" Ouma pleaded with the taller boy. "You need to convince him! Come on!" He really didn't want to force Momota to do something he didn't want to, but Saihara decided, for Ouma's sake, he would attempt to convince Momota. He took a deep breath.  
"H-hey, um, uh, Momota, I think that you should join us." Momota gazed apathetically at Saihara as he said this. Despite talking to a close friend, he still felt incredibly anxious. He was terrible at confrontations, yet Saihara continued.  
"I think it'd be a great way to reconnect, y'know, it'll be just like old times."  
This made Momota stop, and think for a moment. The three sat in an awkward silence as Momota contemplated his decision. "Please, Momota?" Saihara pleaded, one more time. Momota sighed, and begun to speak.

He was quickly cut off by Ouma. "So you'll join?" Ouma chimed in, his childlike excitement obvious. "Will you join? So you'll join?"  
"Fine! Okay!" Momota had finally caved into the pleading of the two boys. "I'll join your damn band!" Momota exclaimed in frustration and resignation. "Only because I miss you guys." He muttered underneath his breath.  
"Yay! Thank you Momota! I knew I could count on you!" Ouma embraced Momota with an iron grip. "I can guarantee you won't regret this!"  
"Hey! Let go! You're crushing me!" Momota exclaimed with a kind voice. Saihara gave a slight laugh at the whole situation. Yeah, just like old times.

"Get it out then! Hurry up!" Ouma stated expectantly, trying to hurry Momota.  
"Eh? Get what out? I don't get wha-" Momota exclaimed, confused, before being cut off by Ouma.  
"The drum kit, idiot!" Ouma snapped, as if it were the obvious. "What do you think I meant?"  
"I don't know!" Momota exclaimed defensively. "I'll go fetch it." Momota begun to leave the room, before turning to Saihara. "Can I get a hand bro?"  
Saihara got up, feeling a warm pang of nostalgia at the nickname given by Momota.

The kit was disassembled in a broom closet, forgotten and coated in a layer of dust.  
"I just kinda stopped playing I guess, since I don't have that much free time, y'know?"  
The two boys lifted the kit piece by piece, and assembled the whole thing in Momota's small living room. When it was all up and ready, Momota took a seat of the stool behind the drums.   
"I haven't done this In ages." Momota clarified, before absentmindedly spinning one of the sticks in his hands. The muscle memory still remained.

"Just go ahead, play us something good!" Ouma encouraged the other boy, who was still hesitant to start.  
"Hang on! Let me just get reacquainted with this thing!" A few more readjustments, and he felt ready to go. He begun playing, just a simple beat. He quickly realised he still had the skill he had last time he touched the kit, so he decided to play something faster, more complex. Saihara and Ouma sat, watching intensely, both surprised by how good Momota was with a drum kit.

Momota came to a close with his drumming, sweat running down his face. "I think..." He was very out of breath. "I think that... I still got it."  
"Yep! You definitely do!" Ouma expressed with excitedly.  
"Momota, I never had any idea you were that good of a drummer! You're fantastic!" Saihara was surprised at how good a drummer his close friend was.  
"Oh, don't say that." Momota muttered. "It's just a hobby, I'm really not all that great."

"Whatever you are, you're in the band! Welcome Momota!" Ouma stood on Momota's sofa to gain extra height over the two boys. "We will one day take over the world!" This made a warm smile appear on Saihara's lips, as the smaller boy stood above all.  
"Do we have a name yet? We kinda need one, don'tcha think?" Momota had raised a very good question.  
"Nope, not yet!" Ouma's confidence was obvious in his response. "While that is important, let's focus on finding our members first!" Ouma hopped off of Momotas sofa, and instead of standing, he sat on it.

"If you think we'll need a bassist, I know a guy who might be up for it." Momota said to the other two. This confused Ouma.  
"If you think we'll need a bassist? Of course we'll need a bassist! Are you stupid?" Ouma replied, sounding almost offended. Saihara couldn't help but giggle at the banter between the two boys.  
"I don't know man! I don't really know what kind of band we are, so..." Momota trailed off.  
"It doesn't matter what kind of band we are, of course we'll need a bassist."   
"Ok, in that case, I know a guy who might be up for it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	4. To The Bassist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three boys head towards someone they believe could be their bassist.

Momota claimed to know somebody who could be their bassist. It almost seemed too good to be true, and Ouma wondered why he hadn't had this whole band idea a bit earlier. He was surrounded by people who are perfect bandmates. He felt good about this, he felt as if everything would work out perfectly from this point onwards. They would find the remaining members, and instantly achieve world fame. He failed to realise that was bound to be several problems along the way. But currently, he only cared about finding this bassist, so him and Saihara followed closely behind Momota as he strolled down the street.

"Mind telling us where we're headed, Momota?" Ouma questioned, curious about where he's being lead.  
"Your university." Momota replied.  
"Eh? Why are we going there?" Saihara appeared confused by Momota had said.  
"Because that's where he lives?" Momota said, stating the obvious. "More people than you two attend that university. Although, I'm pretty sure he lives in the same apartment building as you guys."  
"Huh. Small world!" Ouma uttered. They continued strolling down the street at a good pace.

"So, how have classes been for you, bro? Remind me, what are guys studying again?" Momota questioned Saihara.  
"Oh, I'm doing criminology, and Ouma is studyi-"  
"Politics!" He was cut off by the smaller boy. "Y'know, so I can eventually rule the world! I'll be a great leader one day soon!"  
Ouma's appearance and personality wouldn't make someone think that he's studying politics at university, or that he excelled at anything academic. He acted incredibly childlike, and wore plenty of colourful or eccentric clothes, never mind his bright purple hair. He was loud, and hated being serious. Despite all this, throughout school he was at the top of all of his classes, and got into a great university with no trouble. The saying about the book cover comes to mind. 

"Oh yeah," Momota said, remembering the past. "I forgot about your want to rule the world. You really haven't changed Ouma!" Momota followed this with a friendly laugh, and a ruffle of Ouma's hair. Saihara watched as the two boys laughed, and he thought how lucky he was to have such great friends. He wondered why he ever lost contact with Momota, and was glad to have him back in his life. He, like Ouma, felt that everything would work, nothing bad could happen.

The three of them continued walking down the street, slowly getting closer to their destination.  
"So, how is working at the space agency, Momota?" Saihara asked, wanting know more about what Momota does everyday of his life.  
"It's amazing!" Momota was clearly passionate about what he did. "I mean, it may only be an apprenticeship, but I still love working there. I dunno man, space is just so God damn cool!" Momota gave the same question to Saihara. "How's criminology treating you, bro?"  
Saihara paused for a minute, before he answered.

"I mean, it is interesting, and I really enjoy studying it, but..." Saihara took another pause before continuing. "What I'm trying to say is, uh, it isn't exactly the most uplifting thing. I guess it can be quite heavy at times." Saihara smiled at the ground, before saying more. "But that must be why I live with Ouma. He is great at making life interesting, especially when I'm feeling down." Saihara blushed lightly.  
"Oh, so are you guys dating?" Momota replied, after hearing what Saihara said about Ouma.

This caused both boys to blush bright red, as they both stuttered to correct Momota.  
"Oh-h no it's-"  
"It's not like t-that, you're-"  
"You're mistaken! Really! We're -"  
"We're not, um-"  
Both were flustered by Momota's question, stumbling over their words to correct him. They insisted they weren't, and that they had no interest in each other, but Momota could easily see the truth between the two of them. He realised how they wouldn't get anywhere unless one of them grew the guts to confess.

"Anyway, we're almost there. I hope he's in" Momota muttered.  
"Well, it's stupidly early in the morning, so i doubt anyone will be leaving the house at this time." Ouma replied, before Momota highlighted his hypocrisy.  
"Weren't you two up stupidly early to come to me?  
"Yep! I guess were! But we don't count, we aren't just normal people." Ouma stated plainly.  
"Eh? What?" Momota was justifiably confused.  
"We left on official business, relating to the most important band ever!"  
Momota just looked at Ouma with a look of doubt, and Saihara just shrugged.

"Here we are!"  
The trio stood in front of a door, remarkably similar to the one that belonged to Saihara and Ouma's apartment. It was, after all, in the same building as theirs.  
"Alright! Let's get us a bassist!" Ouma said, quietly, but confidently. "Go ahead Momota!"  
With that, Momota knocked on the door, and the three of them waited for a response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	5. Another Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momota talks to another old friend, and apologies for his past.

They stood, waiting. Despite Momota knocking several times, the three boys didn't get a response. The doubt begun to set in, and Ouma immediately begun to think of other possibilities, of other candidates, who else would join them? He knew all these conveniences were all too good to be true.   
"I-I think he isn't in." Saihara muttered under his breath. "I think we should go."  
With a sigh, Ouma's shoulders dropped.

As the three turned around and began to leave, they heard the handle of the door behind them start to move. Ouma's head snapped back to door, as he saw it slowly open. In the frame stood a tall boy, obviously disheveled from having just woken up. His light green hair was a tangled mess, and his eyes were tired and half closed.  
"Uh, I'm sorry that I took a while to get to the door, I just woke u- Momota?" He seemed quite surprised at the appearance of Momota. Momota turned around, looking at the other boy.  
"Oh, hey Amami! It's been a while, huh?"

"Geez, How many friendships are we going to rekindle today?"  
The thee of them were now sat down in Amami's apartment, and Ouma has realised the similarities between his and Saihara's reunion with Momota, and Momota with Amami. It really was a small world. Amami's apartment was pretty much the same as Saihara and Ouma's. The only difference was the decoration, and the people that lived there. Amami sat on the other side of three, looking relaxed and pleasantly surprised. In another corner of the apartment, a pale boy sat, tinkering with some piece of machinery. He wasn't paying attention to anything else happening in the apartment. Ouma assumed that he was Amami's roommate.

"So, why did you come here Momota? And um, who are your friends?" Amami questioned, a calm smile on his lips.  
"Well, um, uh..." Momota didn't know what to say. "Well, to put it simply, I just joined a band, and, uh, we-" Momota stumbled, before being cut off by Amami.  
"You, need a bassist? And you came to me first? Momota, I'm flattered, but I can never see myself working with you again anytime soon." Amami's calm confidence and apparent control over the situation almost scared the other boys. He appeared so relaxed, but calculating at the same time. Ouma was wondering how Momota came to know such a guy. Saihara was quite scared of him.

"I mean, come on! It wasn't that bad! It wasn't even my fault. Anyway these guys will be different!" Momota gestured towards the other two, as he pleaded with Amami.  
"Momota, I said it once, I don't really want to be in a band, especially not with you again." Amami was set in his attitude, and it seemed like it wouldn't change.  
"Amami, plea-"  
"Momota, it was nice to see you. But you won't be able to convince me. I'm sorry to disappoint." Momota's sighed heavily and bowed his head at Amami's words. He had tried, but Amami would join.

"Woooow, Momota. How do you know this weirdo? I had no idea you had such odd friends!"   
Ouma broke the silence with his loud, over the top voice. Amami raised an eyebrow at this, almost curious at Ouma's personality, and his outgoing confidence. He decided to reply to the smaller boy.  
"Oh, has Momota not told you?" Amami said, looking over to Momota. He sighed, and begun to speak.  
"Well, a few years back, me and Amami were in a band together."   
"And the band broke up." Amami "All because of-"  
"Creative differences!" Momota quickly interjected, trying to stop Amamifrom speaking.  
"Don't try and deny it Momota, it wasn't 'creative differences' or some other bullshit excuse." Amami's eyes were scarily dark, and fixated on Momota. Any sense of him being calm or relaxed was now long gone.  
"We broke up because you were being an asshole about the whole thing. You may have been in charge, but were just unbearable." Amami stoically stated the truth.

At these words, Momota became visibly saddened. He clenched his fists, and begun to speak.  
"I'm sorry Amami. I agree, I was just the worst back then. But did you ever notice?" Momota looked right into Amami's eyes.  
"Did you ever notice how I only ever acted like a dick when with our other bandmates? You know just as well as I do Amami, those guys were the real dicks in this situation."   
Amami smirked at this.  
"I only was an asshole to keep those guys around. I really didn't want to stop playing in the band, I loved it. And I really didn't want everything to fall apart. So I acted like those guys just to keep 'em around."  
Momota spoke with regret and sadness in his voice.  
"But I guess that was what went wrong. My attitude drove you away, and then everything fell apart." Momota lowered his head to look at the ground, and Amami sunk back into his seat. Awkward silence fell upon the room. Amami was deep in thought.

A small voice broke this silence.  
"So, you were peer pressured into being someone you hate, driving away Amami and destroying something you loved. That's why you hadn't touched your drum kit in ages, am I correct?" Saihara asked Momota.  
"You have always been like a detective, haven't you bro?" Yet again, Momota let out a heavy sigh. "I guess that's right. I really am a fuck up, huh?"  
Amami stayed silent through this.  
Saihara wanted to retort, but couldn't find the words to help the taller boy. The silence then fell upon room again, only to be broken again a few moments later.

"Welp, I guess we're not gonna get anything here!" Ouma jumped up from his seat, and started towards the door "let's get back to headquarters and find someone else!" He walked, and beckoned the other two to follow behind him. Almost at the door, a voice called out to Ouma.   
"Wait."  
Ouma looked back, too meet Amami's stern gaze. Ouma met this gaze, and a playful smirk like a Cheshire Cat grew on his lips.  
"I assume you're the leader of this band?" Amami looked at Ouma with a neutral expression.  
"Why yes! You are speaking with the supreme leader of the greatest band that will ever form! Why don't you get on your knees and pray, avacado boy!"  
Ouma's flamboyance was in direct contrast with Amami's stern demeanour.  
"I'll join your band. It seems I misunderstood Momota's actions in the past." As he said this, he looked over at Momota. "Anyway, I've been wanting to play again. It's felt like too long since I touched my bass."

Ouma was excited at what Amami had just said.   
"Really? Yes! I knew you wouldn't be able to pass up a great opportunity like this!" The small boy exclaimed. Momota looked at Amami, and Amami smiled kindly. Momota was glad to have reconnected with a new friend, and Saihara was just glad no one was arguing anymore. Ouma stood, hands on hips, head held high, and began to speak.  
"Alright! We nearly have all our members! All we need now is our second guitarist!"  
Ouma's confident speech was replied to by a small voice on the other side of the room.

Sitting in a corner of the room was Amami's roommate, that the others had hardly noticed. He had been fiddling around with some little mechanism, screwdriver in hand. He had an earphone dangling from one ear, explaining why he couldn't hear anything that happened in the room. His sharp white hair was almost covered his eyes. At the mention of needing a guitarist, he joined the conversation.

"Um, I m-might be able to help with that second guitarist." All attention was now on him, as he mumbled nervously. "I happen to be, um, p-pretty good at guitar."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! :)


	6. Hidden Talent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amami's roommate speaks up, and has quite the impressive talent.

The room was silent after those words were quietly muttered. Everyone was silent, as they'd hardly even noticed that the small boy was there, and his sudden joining of the conversation took them all by surprise. The small boy fidgeted in his seat as everyone turned to him. The silence held, before Amami spoke out.  
"Since when did you know how to play guitar, Kiibo?"

"Um, uh-h I, um," Kiibo seemed quite nervous, almost like he was suddenly put on the spot, despite him starting the conversation. "I guess I've, um, known how for ages. I've played since I was young. I never really mentioned it to you before, I guess." Kiibo stuttered his way through talking, obviously shy because of the strangers in his apartment.  
"This is great Kiibo!" Amami had now changed from being stoic, straight to having a kind smile and a relaxed aura. "Why don't you join this band, I mean, if you want to?"

Upon saying this, Amami realised he had skipped over something quite important. He had yet to introduce his roommate to his guests, but he was already offering him a space in Ouma's band.   
"Oh, this is Kiibo. He's my roommate, and apparently, a guitarist." Kiibo blushed as he realised the attention was all upon him now. He started to regret speaking up, as it had all just led to awkwardness and anxiety. He felt quite content tinkering and listening to music alone, but now he was roped into this band business.  
"Uhh-h h-hi." Kiibo stammered under the sudden attention. 

Despite Kiibo's evident anxiety, Ouma stood up out his seat and approached the nervous boy and grasped his hand. He shook it once, and started to introduce himself.   
"I assume you're honoured to find yourself in the presence of me, the Ultimate Supreme Leader, Ouma Kokichi! I'm the leader of what will one day be the best band in the world!"   
Ouma radiated confidence, and Kiibo wore a puzzled look on his face. "Those two over there are my bandmates. The purple one is Momota, and the emo looking one is Saihara!" Saihara opened his mouth to dispute Ouma, but decided it'd be easier to not interject. No matter how Saihara tried to reject it, his clothing choices and occasional affection for black eye makeup made him come across as emo.  
"I would like to formally invite you to join the greatest band in the world, Kiibo!" Ouma's childish personality shone through as he spoke. "So, what do you say?"

Kiibo was slightly taken aback by Ouma's eccentric nature, but was intrigued about this band. Kiibo decided to bite the bullet, and began to speak.  
"O-ok Ouma, I'll join your band." Kiibo looked at the boy with a kind smile, which Ouma responded to with with his trademark grin of confidence. Kiibo felt happy to be a part of something, and Ouma was relieved to have all his members.

"Buuuut first," Ouma chirped. "I wanna see your skills Kii-boy!" Kiibo flinched at this new nickname, and started to question the other boy.  
"Y-y-you m-mean you want me t-to play right n-now?" Kiibo appeared flustered by this proposition, as well as the strange nickname which he'd already been given.  
"Well of course I do Kii-boy! How else do I know your as great as you say?" Ouma's playful tone made each word feel mischievous. "So hurry up! Go fetch your guitar!"  
"Oh, um, ok..." Kiibo mumbled nervously as he got up and made his way out of the room.

Ouma sat back down in his seat, and let out a sigh of relief. He looked pleased.  
"Y'know," Ouma begun. "I never expected this to be this easy! I thought we'd spend weeks trying to find suitable bandmates, but here we are!" Ouma crossed one leg over another and placed his hands behind his head. He was completely relaxed, happy and confident. That's another reason Saihara loved Ouma. He loved the way he was always confident, and his playful personality which made his life interesting. He was happy to see Ouma happy, and he loved the smaller boy. If only he had the confidence, the same confidence Ouma possessed, he would be able to tell him his feelings.

Kiibo shuffled back into the room, with a guitar in his hand. A guitar not too dissimilar to the one that Saihara owned. Kiibo sat down alongside everyone else, he was stiff and very obviously nervous. Stiffly, he sat on his seat and held onto his guitar. He placed his hands onto the instrument and exhaled deeply.   
"I-I, um just want to say that, I'm sorry if I'm not that great."  
Closing his eyes, and begun to play. Suddenly, the timid, shy boy left, as Kiibo confidently started to play delicately. A beautiful melody rang out through the room, as his hands moved to exactly where they needed to be with precision and fluency. He really seemed to know exactly what he was doing. The other boys sat in awe of Kiibo's skill, especially Amami, who felt slightly offended that Kiibo hadn't told him of his incredible skill.

As Kiibo's brief piece of guitar playing came to a close, the focused, methodical boy disappeared, and the shy, stuttering boy returned.  
"So, h-how was it?" Kiibo quietly asked.  
"Well Kiibo, its official!" Ouma got up and pointed at the other boy, as over the top as always. "You are our other guitarist! Welcome aboard Kii-boy!"   
Kiibo felt a warm smile form on his face as Ouma said this.  
"That's it! We have now formed the greatest band of all time!" Ouma stated, excitement flowing in his speech. "Next, we take over the entire world!"

"That's all fine and good, but," Momota began to reply to Ouma's over the top statement. "don't you think we're gonna need, y'know, a name?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading!!!! :)


	7. Killing Harmony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long time is spent trying to come up with a name for the greatest band of all time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has left a comment or kudos on this fanfic, I appreciate it greatly! Thank you! Please enjoy this next chapter!

"I think you're right spaceboy." Ouma spoke mockingly in response to Momota's reasonable question. "We will need a name. Eventually. But I'm hungry! Let's get some food before we do any important thinking!" Everyone was thankful for this executive decision, as all this drama had worked up quite the appetite within the group of boys. Amami picked up the phone and ordered pizza to be delivered to his apartment.

"So, what are you two studying?" Saihara started to engage in some form of meaningful conversation, as he knew Ouma would eventually derail the discussion with his theatrics and eccentric personality.  
"Geography." Amami replied. "Im planning on traveling the world one day, so I feel that it'll be useful to know my way around it." Amami smiled politely at Saihara as he spoke.  
"That's quite interesting Amami," Saihara begun. "I've always thought of seeing the world one day." Saihara had thought about traveling before, going across the globe to see beautiful sights. Although he would never want to do it without Ouma, who really was the most beautiful sight of then all.  
"Oh don't worry Amami!" Ouma bombastically joined the conversation. "When we become the worlds greatest band, we'll have countless world tours! You'll have seen every corner of this planet before we're done." Amami simply raised his eyebrow at this unbelievable statement.

"How about you Kiibo?" Saihara tried to bring the conversation back to the original topic.   
"Um, I mean I guess it would be kinda cool to travel the worl-" Kiibo was quickly cut off by Saihara.   
"No, I meant what are you studying?"  
"Oh! Sorry, um, I'm doing robotics." Kiibo's face lit up as he begun to speak about this. It was obvious that he was passionate about robotics.   
"It's such an interesting thing to do, I'm absolutely fascinated by machines and robotics. Did you know that we are closer to making sentient robots than we are to travelling to mars?" Kiibo's face lit up with excitement as he told Saihara interesting facts about the advancements of technology.

"Hey guys, pizzas here!"   
Momota walked back into the room, holding a stack of pizza boxes. They had all been at Amami's apartment for a while now, as the sky had darkened. Time had flown by, I guess they were having fun. Momota set down the boxes on the table, and picked up a slice. He began to speak through mouthfuls of pizza.  
"So, when are we gonna decide on a name?" Momota seemed set on finding a name for their band as soon as possible.  
"Well, no better time to have an important discussion than over a meal." Amami replied.  
"I agree. A civilised discussion over fine dining!" Ouma chimed in, takeaway pizza in one hand.  
"Um, It would be the most sensible course of action, if we want to start playing soon." Kiibo's logic was agreed upon by everyone else.  
"Ok then." Saihara started. "Does anyone have any good ideas?"  
Silence fell upon the room.  
"Oh. I guess we're going to be here a while then."

The next hour or so was full with debate over the bands name. There were very few good ideas, and plenty of terrible ones.  
"No! We will not be called that!" Ouma raised his voice.  
"Why not? I happen to believe that 'Momota and the luminaries' is a great name!"   
"Of course you do, spaceboy!" No one else in the room thought that Momota's idea was that good.  
"I don't see you coming up with anything better." Momota raised a good point.  
"What about 'the electric guys'?" Kiibo seemed proud of his input, but nobody had the guts to tell him that 'the electric guys' was a terrible idea. No one wanted to break Kiibo's cute innocence.  
"I don't think that the one Kiibo, sorry." Saihara plainly said.  
Kiibo's face dropped, and he than he started to ask Saihara a question.

"Have you got any good ideas Saihara?"   
Before Saihara even had time to think, Ouma began shouting over everyone else.  
"No! Don't let Saihara decide! He'll come up with something stupidly edgy, he is an emo after all!"   
"I am not an emo!" Saihara responded defensively. "You know I wouldn't give the band a stupid name."  
"You? Not an emo?" Ouma seemed entertained by this conversation. Saihara was embarrassed, but found the humour in the situation. "Ha! Tell that to your music taste and black makeup."  
Saihara gave up defending himself at this point, because Ouma had a point after all.

These conversations went on for a while, and the night got later. The pizza was now long gone, and the conversations had now stopped. Momota lay snoring on the sofa, Kiibo had returned to fiddling with a small robot, and Amami was reading a book. That just left Saihara and Ouma as the only two who could find a name for this band. Silence hung between the two boys.  
"I'm gonna go get some fresh air." Saihara said. "We've been inside for a while now."  
Saihara got up and walked out the door. A few minutes passed before Ouma decided he would go out there to join Saihara. 

Saihara stood leaning against the rail, looking at the city skyline and the night sky. Ouma came up and stood next to the taller boy. The lights of the skyscrapers complimented the glow of the stars in the dark sky. The atmosphere between the two was quiet, but comfortable.  
"I'm really surprised that this all came together this quickly." Ouma quietly muttered. "It feels as if it was only this morning I recruited you, Saihara!"   
Saihara smirked at this, and replied.  
"That's because it was this morning."  
"Oh yeah! I guess I'm just really forgetful!" Ouma jokingly lied. 

Silence fell between the two boys. Ouma quietly broke this silence once again.   
"Thank you, Saihara." Ouma mumbled. "Thank you for joining the band, and, um, helping get the others onboard. I appreciate it a lot."   
It was rare Ouma was ever quiet, but when he was it was only at serious times. Saihara could tell that Ouma was truly thankful, and trusted Saihara. Sadly, Saihara believed this trust to be misplaced. He still couldn't get past the mistakes he'd made in the past. But right now, he decided to put that to the back of his mind.

"I wouldn't want to be with anyone else, Ouma. Thank you for letting me be alongside you in the band." Saihara replied, but he was surprised that he actually said that out loud. Both boys were surprised by Saihara's almost romantic words. These words sent both boys into deep blushes, and an awkward silence now hung between the two. It was good that the dark covered their blushes from each other. The silence carried on for while, and Saihara was the one to break it this time.

"Ouma, I-" Saihara began to speak, but he was cut off by Ouma, who was energetic once again.  
"I've got it! The perfect name!"  
"Eh? What do you mean?" Saihara seemed quite confused by Ouma's sudden shift in attitude.  
"I don't know, it just came to me, and I think it's perfect." Ouma didn't take any time to pause, and ran back inside to inform the others. Saihara stayed outside for a few moments, and pondered when he would ever get the guts or the chance to confess to Ouma.

"Alright minions, listen up!" Ouma shouted as he entered the room. This sudden noise bought Momota out of his sleep quickly.  
"Did you just call me a minion?"   
Amami appeared displeased by this nickname.  
"Well I am your supreme leader, so that makes you all my loyal minions!" Ouma proudly stated. "Anyway, I've come up with the perfect name for the greatest band of all time!"   
The others all went silent as Ouma revealed his idea for a name.

"I propose to you, fellow bandmates, that our band be called 'Killing Harmony'!" Ouma confidently stated this. And everyone else seemed to agree that this was a good idea. They would be 'Killing Harmony'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	8. Awkward Situations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A first rehearsal is established, but not without more awkwardness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for supporting this fanfic! It really means a lot to me that people enjoy this. Please enjoy this chapter, and thank you for reading!

"That's a pretty cool name, I like it. Where'd you steal it from?" Momota's doubt was well placed, as his assumptions fit Ouma's character.  
"Oh Momota you hurt me! There is no reason to doubt me, that idea is 100% original. Courtesy of the supreme leader himself!"  
Despite Ouma claiming that he just came up with that name, he couldn't deny that he felt personally connected to it, in a strange way. Maybe in another life he had some relation to the phrase 'Killing Harmony'...   
No, he was just acting strange.

"Well, wherever you got it from, it's great." Amami's sensible point of view broke up the tension between Ouma and Momota. Amami was a step ahead of all of the other boys, though. He was thinking about their first rehearsal. He begun to speak after Momota and Ouma's friendly argument had stopped.  
"Now we have a solid lineup and a name, when are we going to meet up and play?" Amami's question was met immediately by an excited Ouma.  
"As soon as possible! No, tomorrow! At mine and Saihara's apartment, it's just down the hallway." Everyone silently agreed with this arrangement. They were to meet up again the next day, but for now they carried on talking nonsense further into the night.

"What do you two think?" He asked Saihara and Kiibo. Both boys were confused by Amami's words, until he clarified.  
"About the name? Do you think it's good?" Both of the shy boys felt stupid when they realised what Amami was asking. Kiibo just nodded in agreement, but Saihara decided to speak his opinion. His first mistake.  
"I think it's pretty good! I'm getting pretty excited for this ban-" As usual, Saihara was cut off by a certain purple haired boy. Nothing new there.

"Saihara, you just like it because it kinda sounds emo!" Ouma seemed to enjoy constantly mocking Saihara for being 'emo', and Saihara's defence was exactly strong.  
"I wish you would stop calling me that, Ouma." Saihara pathetically pleaded.  
"No, I'll never stop!" Ouma sung. "There's no point in denying it Saihara! Don't lie, my beloved!"  
Beloved. The word echoed across the room. Ouma's little nickname for Saihara slipped out without second thought, and it shocked the rest of the room into silence. It took Ouma a moment to realise what he had said. The atmosphere was full of tension and awkwardness. Saihara's heart rate increased in panic, as he also figured out what Ouma had said.

The quiet stuck for a few moments, before Amami was the first to question Ouma's words.   
"So, are you two going out?" He bluntly asked.   
This question caused rampant blushing on Saihara and Ouma's faces. Both boys verbally tripped over each other to correct Amami, and clarify that they were not in a relationship. Momota just sat back and rolled his eyes. This was the second he was seeing this today, and he was already getting tired of how clueless the two boys were. They were hopelessly in love, and he just wanted one of them to confess and have all of this awkwardness be done with. But that wouldn't come for a while.

Ouma decided he would leave after that little slip up. It was getting late anyway. He didn't really think while he was talking, so he let his nickname for Saihara slip out. He didn't really mean it seriously, and he tried telling the others that it was just a friendly joke between the two. He just wanted to sleep after the whole situation. He put his mask back on and prepared to leave.  
"Yaaaaawn! I'm getting tired! I'm gonna leave now. See y'all in the morning!"   
He rushed his speech, as he just wanted to leave. It was obvious he wanted to get out quickly.  
Saihara stayed stayed sat down for a few minutes. Momota gave him a look as if to say 'why don't you just confess already?'.

"I'd better go as well. It's getting late. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Saihara sighed and left to go to his apartment.   
He was embarrassed by the whole situation, and just wanted to sleep through his problems. He really wanted to tell Ouma his feelings, but still couldn't muster the courage to tell him. Somehow, he was still blind to Ouma's obvious attraction to him, so he would carry on in a state of anxiousness until the two would get together.

He arrived back at the apartment and just went straight to his room. He didn't say a word to Ouma, as he thought it'd just be better to sleep through the awkwardness. Saihara just fell on his bed, and sunk into a deep sleep. It had been a long day, and Saihara hadn't realised how tired he really was until he reached his bed. He just hoped that he would forget about the events of the end of the night. He was quite excited for the next day, though.

The next day would be the first time 'Killing Harmony' would really come together as a band. It'd be the start of the biggest change to all five of their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!


	9. Are You Ready?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The band meet up for the first time, and Saihara and Ouma have more awkward moments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda wanted to have this chapter out on Ouma's birthday, but I guess I didn't make it. I just had to resort to retweeting large amounts of Ouma fanart on twitter to celebrate! Please enjoy this chapter!

The bright morning sun crept through the window of Saihara's room. The morning had finally came, and Saihara didn't want to face it. His bed was far too comfortable to leave. He wanted to stay in there, and never have to face any of his issues. But he knew he couldn't, so he gave in and left the warm comfort of his bed. He had only just woken up, and had almost forgotten about the events of the previous night. He hoped Ouma had forgotten.

Part of him thought that it wasn't that bad. But another part, a very large, anxious part of him, believed it was the worst thing to happen to him in recent memory. He knew that no one else would even remember the whole ordeal, but it still stuck with him, an embarrassing memory that he thought would forever stick with him. He tried to push the embarrassment to the back of his head for now, as he went to the kitchen to eat.

Ouma stood, holding a bowl of cereal in his hands, casually munching away. He looked towards Saihara as he entered the room. He realised how Saihara avoided eye contact as he went into the cupboard to retrieve a bowl.  
"I hope you're ready Saihara, we've got quite the day ahead of us!" Ouma stated, excitement oozing from his words.  
"Huh?" Saihara was genuinely clueless about what Ouma was talking about.  
Ouma rolled his eyes and began to speak.  
"How could you forget! You hurt me Saihara!" Ouma faked distress, while Saihara just looked on in confusion. "It's our first day as a band! Everyone is coming round here. Remember?"  
Through all of the embarrassment of the previous night, the fact that their first rehearsal as 'Killing harmony' was today.  
"Oh, um, yeah. I remember now, I think I kinda forgot about that, I guess..." Saihara muttered.

It seemed recently that silence would fall between the two boys, whether comfortable or awkward. This was one of those times, as neither boy knew what to say. So they stayed in silence, stuck in a state of seemingly endless awkwardness.  
"So, um, about last night, um..." The mention of the previous night catches Saihara's attention. Ouma's voice was small and quiet, something very rare. This meant he had something serious to say, and Saihara recognised this and listened to smaller boys words.  
"About what... what I said, when I said, um, 'beloved'." The word left Ouma's mouth not without stuttering. He was obviously nervous saying this. "I was just wondering, I use that nickname a lot and I, um..." Ouma trailed off before looking Saihara in the eyes, and asking a question to the taller boy.  
"Saihara, do you actually fee-"  
Saihara was listening closely to the smaller boy, before being cut off by everyone's favourite 'spaceman'.

"Hey y'all!"  
Momota's booming voice echoed through the apartment, breaking up the quiet moment between Saihara and Ouma. Ouma immediately slipped his mask back on, and went to greet the others.  
"Sorry we took so long! This drum kit is a pain to move, as well as the other twos stuff."  
Kiibo and Amami entered shortly after Momota, both carrying their guitar, an amp, and a bundle of cable.  
"Wow! Okay that is a lot of stuff!" Ouma appeared shocked when he realised how much stuff they had to plug in.

"You can stop complaining." Amami retorted, relaxed as usual. "At least you don't have an instrument to carry about."  
"I do have an instrument!" Ouma was overacting as per usual. "I have to carry around my voice box, which, I'll have you know, is very difficult to maintain!"  
"Is it now? Sounds likely..." Momota grumbled.  
"Anyway, it's my apartment! I pay rent, so I can complain all I want!" He did have a good point.  
"Speaking of who pays rent," Ouma started. "Where is Saihara?"

Saihara hadn't moved from his spot in the kitchen since Ouma left. He stayed still, thinking about what the smaller boy was going to say to him. Was he finally going to confess? None of that mattered, because, as usual, he was cut off from the truth. It was at this moment Saihara realised how much he loved the smaller boy, and how much he wanted to tell his true feelings to him. But like everything else that troubled Saihara, he pushed it to the back of his mind, and went to go start his band.

"I'm here guys." Saihara entered the living room and sat alongside everyone else. As soon as he was able to sit down, Momota had ruffled his hair.  
"Nice to see ya, bro!" Momota said this, and then grinned brightly. His infectious positivity made a smile creep up onto Saihara's lips.  
Saihara realised how much he missed the days like this. The carefree days were Momota called him 'bro', the days of laughter and innocence. Now they all had student debt.

"Hey, um, not to be rude, but..." Kiibo begun to ask. "where's your guitar, Saihara?"  
"Oh, it's just in the other room, I'll go fetch it." Saihara got up to go to the other room, but turned around when he reached the door frame. "Start plugging everything in while I fetch my stuff."  
As Saihara went into his wardrobe to retrieve the guitar, Kiibo and Amami untangled cables and plugged things into walls. Saihara picked up the amp from the corner of his room, while Momota set up his drums and Ouma cleared his voice.  
"Don'tcha have to do some crazy voice warm ups before singing?" As Momota asked this, Saihara begun to plug his equipment.  
"Well, since my voice is so great, I skip over that step!" The small boy smirked, his confidence evident in every word he spoke.  
Saihara finished plugging his guitar in, and everything was set up pretty well. As well as a band could be set up in an apartment living room.

The three boys with guitars sat fiddling, tuning them and playing various isolated notes to ensure that everything was in order. Momota sat spinning a drumstick in his hand, a trick he thought he'd forgotten how to do, but was glad to know he remembered how. Ouma stood, ready to go. All furniture was pushed back as far as possible, which admittedly wasn't very far, but this gave the band a bit more room to work with. This preparation led them to the fateful question.

"What are we gonna play?"  
The question lingered, as no one gave any suggestions. When someone would give an idea, someone would chime in, commenting on how they didn't know how to play it. This went on for a bit, before a conclusion was reached. It was a song they all knew, it wasn't too difficult to play, but a great song nonetheless. They were now prepared to play.

"Well, are you ready, Saihara?" Ouma asked.  
"Yeah." Saihara replied.  
"How about you, Momota?"  
"All there baby!" Momota exclaimed.  
"How about you, Amami?"  
"Ready." Amami shortly responded.  
"And you, Kiibo?"  
"I guess I'm ready..." Kiibo muttered quietly.  
"Well, I think I'm alright!" Ouma exclaimed.  
With a count of 4, the five of them began to play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
>  
> 
> btw you get extra points if you get the reference in the title and at the end of the chapter


	10. Band Practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The band play, and Saihara and Momota talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy this chapter!

From the first note of the song, the five of them knew that this band would go far. Maybe they weren't the best players, but they had an energy behind their performance which made any mistakes in their performance seem trivial. Their instruments worked together perfectly to bring the song together. The five of them could tell from just playing one song together that this band would work. They all also agreed that it was pretty fun. While the four with instruments thought they played fairly well, all of them, Ouma included, were surprised by their singers ability.

As the final notes of the song came and went, Saihara began to speak.  
"I had no idea you were that good of a singer, Ouma!" Saihara exclaimed, surprised by Ouma's ability.  
"Oh, I've known I'm a good singer since I was a young child, Saihara!" Ouma lied. "No need to flatter me!"  
When he said he would be the bands singer, he didn't actually think he would get a band together. But when he did, he knew the only option was to go with the lie and hope he could actually sing. Turns he was great at it. How lucky he was. His habit of lying seemed to pay off for once.

"That was fucking awesome!" Momota stated, quite loudly. "We are so good at this! Ouma's right, we will be the biggest band in the world!"   
Momota's comment caused a smug smirk to crawl its way up Ouma's lips.  
"I think it's a bit early to say whether or not we'll take over the world." Amami bluntly said, as levelheaded as ever. "Although I do agree that we were pretty good at that."  
"Don't worry Amami! I've never been wrong once in my entire life! We will be the best band ever!" Ouma chimed in. "I promise!"  
Amami only rolled his eyes at this.  
"Um, Should we do another one?" Kiibo suggested, and they all agreed. They decided on a song, and began to play.

Several hours of playing various songs passed by, each song convincing the group of boys that they were a great band more and more. They were all excited about the band, and all knew that they could achieve greatness. But right now, the group was tired.  
"Man, my throat hurts!" Ouma whined at no one in particular.  
"I told you that you should do vocal warmups!" Momota said, frustrated but happy that he was right.  
"He's right, Ouma." Amami joined the conversation with his wisdom. "You'll damage your voice if you don't warmup properly."  
"Alright Dad! I'll do the damn vocals warmups!" Ouma shouted, as over dramatic as usual. "Why don't you guys just focus on your instruments? I'm pretty sure your guitar was out of tune, Kii-boy!"

At these words, Kiibo started frantically looking at his guitar, in an attempt to see if it really was out of tune. Everyone else in the room could tell that Kiibo's guitar was fine, and that Ouma was playing a mean joke on Kiibo.   
"He's messing with you, Kiibo." Saihara sighed. Having lived with Ouma for a while now, Saihara could easily tell whenever Ouma was lying or joking around.   
"Oh." Kiibo muttered. "Ouma, there's no need to be so mean!" Kiibo timidly said.  
"I'm sorry, it's just so much fun messing with robots like you!" Ouma giggled as he teased the other boy.  
"I-I am not a robot! Why would you even say that?" Kiibo stuttered.  
The other three just sat back and watched as the two boys went back and forth.

"Man, singing sure is hungry work! Momota, go get me some food!" Ouma commanded the taller boy.  
"What? Why should I have to go?" Momota was confused by Ouma's commands, and refused to follow the smaller boy's demands.  
"You're in my band, so you're under my control. Now go to shop and bring me food, minion!" Ouma confidently stated.  
Momota sighed. He had given up trying to defend himself.  
"Okay, I'll go. Don't ever call me a minion again though!" Momota said as he got to the door. "Come on Saihara."  
"Why do I need to go with you?" Saihara questioned.  
"Because I said so. Come on bro!"  
Saihara gave in, and left with Momota.

The two boys started to walk down the street together. The sun was out, and the sky was clear. The perfect kind of day to be stuck inside playing instruments.  
"I'm really suprised by how well you can play guitar, bro!" Momota clapped Saihara on the back as he said this.  
"Ah, thank you Momota. I didn't know whether or not I would still be able to play well after I gave up a while back." Saihara's mood dropped as soon as he mentioned the fact that he stopped playing.  
"Why did you give up, anyway?" Momota asked. Saihara became rather quiet at this question, before offering a small answer.  
"I guess I just gave up." Saihara uttered quietly.  
Momota could tell that there was more to the story, but decided not to push Saihara to tell. It was obvious it troubled him. Momota had other questions to ask anyway.

"You like Ouma, don't you?"   
Momota very bluntly said this question out loud. It caused Saihara to physically stop walking. When he tried to speak, meaningless stutters only came out. His face was invaded by bright red blushes. All of this answered Momota's question pretty well.   
"W-why would y-ou s-s-say some like that?" Saihara struggled to say through his embarrassment.   
"It's fairly obvious, Saihara. The way you never get annoyed with him, the way you look at him, it's not hard to see. He calls you his beloved! If that doesn't prove you like each other, nothing does." Momota said all of this to Saihara, who decided to stay silent. Even more telling of the truth.  
"Okay, maybe I kinda like him..." Saihara quietly muttered.  
"Kinda? Bro, you're head over heels for him!" Saihara blushed deeper at Momota's words. "You really need to tell him how you feel."  
"I mean, I want to, but I'm scared that he'll not feel the same way." Saihara sighed as he said this.  
"What do you mean? It's obvious that he likes you back! How blind can you get?" Momota let out a small laugh as he said this.

The two walked down the street in silence for a bit, before reaching their destination. As they entered the store, Momota turned to Saihara and began to speak.  
"You really need to confess to him. I'm tired of the awkward moments between you two. I just wanna see you two happy, yknow?"  
Saihara took in Momota's words.  
"Anyway, let's get some food and head back to the apartment."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	11. The Writing Process

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group starts to write a song, but Saihara is one step ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy!!

The warm midday sun made walking down the street a pleasant experience for the two boys. Although, both Momota and Saihara agreed that on a day like this it was a shame they had to run errands for a certain 'supreme leader'. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, as Saihara would've spent the day in bed if not for Ouma's band plans. He thought this was all a lot better than staying in bed all day, especially since he got to talk to Momota again. These past couple days made Saihara remember the time he spent with Momota in the past.

"I never really realised how much I missed spending time with you, Momota." Saihara said, his voice full of nostalgia.  
"Don't worry, bro. I won't leave you guys again. It'll just be like old times, just without any illegal stuff this time!" Momota put his arm around Saihara as he exclaimed this.  
"I don't remember doing anything illegal?" Saihara questioned, confused by Momota's hyperbole.  
"We were irresponsible kids, we probably did something illegal." Momota brushed it off like it was nothing. "I mean we did some pretty stupid things. Remember that time with the fireworks?"  
The memories of reckless things the three of them did as kids came back to him.  
"Oh my god, I remember telling Ouma that was a terrible idea." Saihara giggled as he remembered.  
"He really should have listened, he nearly blew my arm off!" The taller boy exclaimed, and Saihara raised an eyebrow at this.

"Don't try to take the moral high ground on this, Momota!" Saihara's lighthearted accusations made Momota look down in shame. He knew exactly what the other boy was going to say.  
"You were just as onboard with setting them off as Ouma was. I was the only one there with any sense!"   
Momota countered this by rubbing his hand in Saihara's hair. It was another thing that was a common occurrence, back in the day.  
"Awwww, shaddup! Just be glad we didn't end up getting the cops involved!"   
"Maybe not that time, but remember that one time at the mall?"  
"Oh yeah! That was the only time I've ever ran from the cops!"  
"Yeah, but it was a mall cop! That doesn't count, Momota!"  
Both boys laughed so hard it stung, as they walked down the street, recounting various other times they probably broke the law together.

Upon arriving back at the apartment, the conversation Saihara and Momota had recalling their past was instantly broken. The civilised talking between two normal people was drowned out by the eccentric rambling of the one and only Kokichi Ouma. It seemed he was still teasing Kiibo, and Amami just looked tired. Saihara was used to Ouma's strange ways, and Momota was only just getting used to it again. The two who had only just met him, on the other hand, were still taken aback by his antagonistic confidence.

"What do you mean you don't know what a furry is, kii-boy?" Ouma's tone was playful and mischievous. Teasing Kiibo seemed to be Ouma's new favourite hobby.  
"Am I supposed to know? Is it important to know?" Kiibo appeared genuinely concerned on whether or not he needed to know what a furry was.  
"Oh yes! It's crucial to understanding the current political climate, Kiibo."   
Sarcasm was prevalent in Ouma's voice, but it flew straight over the white haired boy's head. Eventually Amami decided he would stick up for Kiibo.  
"He's messing with you, Kiibo. Again." Amami sighed as he said this. Kiibo blushed, as he realised he had been tricked again.  
"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop teasing me, Ouma!" Kiibo's small pleas were only met by mischievous snickering.

While this scene folded out in front of him, Saihara looked around the room to see that several sheets of paper were strewn across the table. He wondered what they had been using them for, but before he could ask, Ouma was already at the bag of food.  
"Why thank you, my loyal minions! Know that your supreme leader is very satisfied with this food." Ouma stated as he unpeeled a banana, tossing the peel onto the floor. Saihara shot him a disapproving gaze.  
"I am not a minion! Stop calling us that!" Kaito exclaimed, only to be met with Ouma's trademark smirk. There really was no winning with him.  
"What is all this paper?"   
Shuichi gestured to the pile of various scraps of paper strewn across the table. Ouma was the first to reply.   
"Well you see, we were planning out how we would tak-"  
"We were trying to write a song." Amami curtly cut off the other boy before he could spin some elaborate lie.

"Amaaaami! You're no fun!"   
The smaller boy pouted, as he had lost an opportunity to be his usual, over dramatic self. He decided to give up and just be honest for once in his life.  
"While you were out we started to write a song. I mean, what's a band without songs? We didn't get very far though..." The purple haired boy mumbled these rare honest words.  
Saihara picked up one of the pages, and tried to read the scribbled down notes on it. He couldn't read any of it, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it probably wasn't great. It's not that he doubted their songwriting ability, it's just that the three of them hadn't had much time to write them. Ouma could tell how Saihara felt about the attempt at writing by just looking at him. He prepared to defend himself and his rushed lyrics.

"Don't judge, Saihara!" Ouma was now back to his usual loud self. "We had very little time to write. It's not like you could do any better!"   
He added that last remark as a joke, but Saihara actually took Ouma up on the challenge.  
"Well, actually..."  
All eyes were on Saihara as he sat down and picked up his guitar. He fiddled with tuning it, before he was satisfied. He turned to look at the four other boys.  
"Before I stopped playing guitar, I did write a song. It was quite a while ago though, but it's better than nothing, I guess."  
Saihara decided that it'd be best to stop speaking, and to just play the damn song.

As Saihara started to play, instant realisation hit Ouma. The song was slow and melodic, almost elegant, and Ouma instantly recognised it. He recalled hearing it the previous day, when Saihara first picked up his guitar again. He didn't recognise it then, but now he remembered. He remembered how Saihara wrote it when they were young, and how he played it to Ouma quite often. He remembered the time he spent with Saihara. It made Ouma incredibly nostalgic, as he remembered his school days with Saihara and Momota. It reminded Ouma of how long he had been in love with Saihara. He could remember the sound of the song really well, but he thought it was a real shame that he couldn't remember any of the lyrics.

When Saihara finished, he was met with praise from his bandmates.  
"Woah, that was great!"  
"I think we've got ourselves a songwriter."  
"Yeah Saihara, that was pretty good!"  
Saihara blushed deeply under everyone's high praise.  
"But there is just one problem..." Saihara began to spin a lie. "I had some lyrics, but I completely forgot them..."  
His lie seem to get past everyone, as Ouma immediately interjected.  
"That's no problem, we'll write some new lyrics! The original was probably incredibly edgy and emo anyway." Ouma taunted.

Saihara let out a sigh of relief. The truth was that he still had the original lyrics. He just really didn't want to show them to anyone. Especially Ouma. He didn't want Ouma to realise that he wrote a song about him all those years ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!! :)


	12. One Percent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Band business has been going well for a while now, and Ouma starts something that'll help progress the band.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy!!

It had now been about a week since the band formed. The boys met up almost everyday to practice, or write songs they would eventually play. Whenever they didn't have classes, they could all be found in Saihara and Ouma's apartment, lazed about scribbling lyrics onto paper, or picking various strings of notes out of thin air. They all spent a lot of time together because of the band, so a strong sense of friendship was forming between the five of them. The fact that they enjoyed spending time with each other made the music they created better. They had a natural flow and chemistry that made the majority of what they wrote sound great. Ouma felt that he had made good choices when finding bandmates.

It turned out that Amami and Ouma had a knack for lyric writing, the two boys would write well flowing, creative words which would compliment the music well. On the other hand, Kiibo and Saihara were responsible for the musical composition, as the pair were the most musically adept. Most of the time Momota would sit back and watch the writing process, occasionally contributing. He was far better at actually playing instruments. Overall, they weren't writing the greatest songs, but they were pretty good saying it was all of theirs first time.

The group, all apart from Saihara, lounged around the room. They were casually chatting away, waiting for Saihara to join them so they could begin playing.  
"...and that's why I believe the earth is completely flat."   
Ouma had just finished talking absolute rubbish in an attempt to wind up the other three. It didn't work on Amami, or even the ever gullible Kiibo, but he had succeeded in riling up Momota.  
"What do you mean? You're making no sense, there's no way the earth is flat!" Momota exclaimed. He was passionate about this topic, and was set on proving Ouma's lies wrong.  
"It would go against the laws of physics itself! It wouldn't be possible!"  
The other two boys had realised that Ouma didn't really believe the earth to be flat, and was doing this all for an entertaining reaction. Momota hadn't realised this.  
"Trust me Momota, I know more than you about this. It's a massive international conspiracy, and I'm pulling the strings!" Ouma mischievously smirked, and even Momota realised that Ouma was messing with him.

The apartment door opened, and Saihara walked into the room. His last class for the day had just ended, meaning that the band could start working. He didn't bother greeting anyone, as it had become normal to see the whole group together in his apartment whenever he got there. As he moved to sit down, Ouma began to speak.  
"Now we're all here, I need to make an important announcement!" Ouma bombastically stated.  
"You really didn't need to wait for me to arrive, you could've already told everyone." Saihara mumbled, but was ignored by everyone else.  
"Because I'm incredibly smart, and a great leader, I've decided to make an important executive decision..."  
Ouma's voice was almost sarcastically confident   
"Well hurry up and spit it out!" Momota seemed impatient, and unwilling to deal with Ouma's antics.  
"To put it short, I've created a group chat that we can use to coordinate and share ideas easily!"   
Ouma said this like it was the single most important thing in history.

"You hyped that up far too much." Amami's matter of fact tone knocked Ouma's confidence slightly, but he continued anyway.  
"Well, it'll be incredibly important and useful, so I'd say it deserves a big announcement. I've already added all of you guys."  
The other four boys all started to fidget with their phones, checking that they were all in the chat.  
"Ouma's right. This will be very useful for sorting everything in this band out." Saihara was, for once, agreeing with something Ouma had said. This made a smirk crawl it's way onto Ouma's face. If he didn't have control over his emotions, the compliment from his crush would've caused him to blush.  
"And remember..." Ouma started. "Only use this group chat for band business. Strictly nothing else!"  
Amami looked up from his phone, raising an eyebrow.  
"Ouma, you've already sent several 'non band' related memes to the chat."

The hour was late. Everyone had left the apartment several hours ago, but conversation was still going on in the group chat. Saihara sat, slumped in his bed, observing the conversations going on in the group chat. Amami and Ouma were discussing lyrics, and Momota would interject with a suggestion every now and again. The top corner of his phone screen caught his eye, specifically his battery. It was worryingly low. He knew he should get up and plug his phone in, but he found himself focused on the group chat. He was mainly focused on whatever Ouma would say. It was all the little things the boy did, even when typing. His passion and playful tone was still just as obvious to Saihara through text. Just thinking about the other boy made Saihara's heart flutter.

He stayed still, face lit by the phone screen, only being able to think of the shorter boy. The battery decreased to One percent. Saihara found himself casting his mind back to the conversation with Momota he had about a week ago.  
"It's obvious he likes you back."  
"You just need to confess to him."  
Momota's words echoed through his head. The problem was, Saihara severely lacked the confidence Ouma possessed in spades. He knew he needed to confess to Ouma, but just didn't know when he would. It all frustrated Saihara greatly. 

He was pretty sure Ouma felt the same way as he did, yet he still feared being rejected. Was he being stupid, or reasonable? He really couldn't tell, and as usual, he was overthinking everything. His phone stayed at one percent as his stared into the phone, lost in thought. Until...

Suddenly, Saihara was plunged into darkness. His heart skipped a beat, until he realised what happened. He was so deep in thought that he'd let his phone run out of charge. He tiredly sighed, and decided to sleep on his problems. He plugged his phone in, and lay down to sleep. As he drifted away, he hoped he would awake with a new found confidence.

When Saihara's phone came back to life, it's screen was filled with notifications from the group chat. The most notable was from Ouma, and it set the bands next steps into motion. The message read:

Ouma: btw, im working on finding us our first gig!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!


	13. Let's Give 'Em A Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saihara is tired, and Ouma has second thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy this chapter!

Bandmates chapter thirteen 

Ouma slumped in his bed, tapping away at his phone screen into the late hours of the night. A significant lack of sleep because of the internet was common between him and his peers. He was half focused on his group chat conversation. He was talking to Amami about the lyrics that they had written earlier in the day. Small changes to the words were made, but Ouma wasn't fully focused on what was happening in the group chat. 

He was mainly focused on getting his band their first concert. A small venue nearby had put out a call for small bands to play there. Ouma instantly took this opportunity, and got his band their first show. It'd be a tiny show, with not many people there, but everyone had to start somewhere.

It didn't really dawn on him how terrifying the idea of performing is, or even if the other guys were alright with it. He just went in headfirst and hoped to come out successful. He knew skill wise they were all ready to perform, but were they mentally ready? Only time would tell.

He notified his newly formed group chat after he finalised the deal. He sat back and awaited replies from everyone else.

Amami: Nice.

Amami was nice and relaxed as usual. Exactly what Ouma expected.

Kiibo: thats great ouma! im looking forward to it!

Kiibo's was really excited about this. Ouma could tell that the Kiibo enjoyed being a part of the band, and it made him happy to see someone who would normally be so quiet and introverted be a part of something as extroverted as a band. That and Ouma enjoyed teasing Kiibo.

Momota: WTF!!! why would you do something like that without telling us!!! cancel it!!!!!!

Momota's loud prescence filled up even group chats. 

Ouma: too late spaceman! already done it! two weeks from now! :p

Ouma decided he would leave the other three in the group chat to themselves for a bit. He had realised that Saihara hadn't said anything for a while. He hadn't even seen any of the messages recently. Ouma assumed he had just gone to sleep. After he put his phone down, Ouma found himself staring up at the darkness of the ceiling. He didn't want to admit it, but there was only one thing on his mind. It wasn't his band, or his first concert, it was Saihara.

He decided he would just force himself to sleep. He didn't have to stress about his crush while he was asleep.

Saihara slowly started to wake up. It always took him a while to get out of bed in a morning, especially on a day where he didn't have to do anything. He lay for a while, drifting in and out of consciousness, until his body decided to wake up. He felt incredibly tired, and regretted staying up so late in the newly formed group chat. 

When Saihara finally fully woke up, he could hear conversation coming from the living room. How long was he asleep? He saw the time on his phone, and realised it was practically midday. He slowly dragged himself out of bed, lazily sliding some clothes onto himself as he made his way out of the room. He really needed to get more sleep into his life.

He came out of his room to see Momota and Ouma casually chatting. It seemed that Momota was always the first to show up. As soon as he saw Saihara, he started to bombastically greet his friend.  
"Look who finally woke up! You really look like you need more sleep, bro."  
"Heh, I guess you're right..." Saihara tiredly muttered, proving Momota's point.  
"Yeah Saihara, you really should get to sleep earlier! I thought you'd have gotten used to working on no sleep." Ouma mockingly joined in the conversation.

"Hey, you can't say anything, you were up just as late!" Saihara retorted.  
"Well, I have a reason to stay up later than you goons!"  
"And why's that?" Momota had a good idea of what he was going to say, but he asked anyway.  
"Well, I am the supreme leader of this band, which means I can do whatever I want, without consequence!"   
Ouma's abundant confidence could be found in his words, as usual.  
"Speaking of how great of a leader I am, have you heard the news, Saihara?"

Saihara hadn't heard the news, and was quite confused. Partly because he didn't know anything important was going on, but mostly because of how tired he was.  
"Eh? No, I, uh, haven't heard this news."  
"How can you not have? I kinda did send it to the group chat. Why would you ignore me Saihara?"   
Ouma's loud crocodile tears came as usual, but left quickly.  
If Saihara couldn't tell when Ouma was faking his emotions, he would be hurt by Ouma's words.  
"We've got our first concert." Momota decided he would just say it, instead of waiting for Ouma to get round to it.  
"Oh. Nice." Saihara's response was short, nonchalant and confident.  
"I was against it at first, but Ouma convinced me it was a great idea. This will be our first real big step to becoming big."  
Momota's confidence in performing started to make Ouma nervous.

Ouma was starting to worry slightly.  
"Are you not worried, Saihara? You're not even slightly nervous?"   
Ouma applied his usual teasing tone to his voice. Saihara's reply was calm.  
"No, not really, I'm actually pretty excited about it. It'll be fun."   
"Yeah, I'm pumped to show the world our skills!" Momota chimed in with his usual positivity. He seemed quite excited for the show. Calm and excited was the opposite of what Ouma was feeling. He was the only one who didn't feel so good about performing.  
"Why do you ask, Ouma?" Saihara questioned. "Are you nervous?"

"Ha! How dare you assume that I, the magnificent Ouma Kokichi, feel fear! Of course I'm not nervous!"   
"Oh, ok." Saihara responded, somehow believing the lie.  
In reality, he was pretty scared. His faked confidence convinced the other two, but he couldn't convince himself that he didn't have stage fright. He never considered this when getting a gig, but now he had to deal with the consequences. It was too late to back out now. If he wanted to be in the worlds greatest band, he would have to conquer any anxieties. As usual, he pushed his fears to the back of his mind.

"Anyway, we have a lot of work to do in time for this concert."   
Any worries Ouma appeared to have immediately melted away, as his over the top persona took over.  
"This show is very important, because it's gonna be the first time the world will ever see Killing Harmony. Let's give 'em one hell of a show!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	14. Into The Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The writing process goes deep into the night, and the boys are tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy!

Bandmates chapter fourteen 

They had two weeks until the first show. They only had two weeks to mentally and physically prepare themselves. While it really wouldn't be a big show, it was still a massive thing. This was their first step from being a group of guys playing instruments in their apartment, to a real band which could take on the world. The small club which they were about to play would be nothing compared the sold out arenas they would come to play in a matter of years. But right now, the group had to focus on getting ready for their debut.

Ouma lay down on his sofa, a piece of paper in his hand. He looked at the scribbles on the sheet, reading over it again and again, occasionally crossing something out, changing it slightly. Amami was doing the same across the room from him, and Kiibo sat with his guitar. Saihara and Momota weren't in at this late hour, leaving just the there of them.   
"Why are lyrics so damn hard to write!" Ouma was tired and frustrated. He needed sleep.  
"I dunno man, but just come up with something. Anything! This is the last one we need to get done for the show."   
Amami slurred as he spoke, he was tired and annoyed, just like Ouma.  
"Easier said than done, avocado boy." Ouma retorted.  
"Just get on with it, gremlin." Amami let out a tired laugh, as he gave Ouma this nickname.  
"Gremlin?" Ouma questioned. "Y'know, I'm too tired to do my usual routine. Just get on with writing."  
"Like you said, easier said than done." Amami mockingly echoed Ouma's words, which was met with a scowl from the smaller boy.  
Kiibo felt kind of awkward, sitting there, not saying anything. He decided to try and say something to break the tension.

 

"I really wish I could help, but I, um, I'm not really not good at writing lyrics..."   
Kiibo was trying to be kind, but it backfired. Ouma became visibly agitated with Kiibo's comment. Ouma screwed up the paper, and snapped at Kiibo.  
"Wow, thanks Kiibo! We really needed to know how useless you are! Just be quiet for once!"  
Silence fell over the room, as Ouma realised what he had said. The three of them remained in an awkward silence for a while.

"I think we should call it a night."   
Amami was being as reasonable as ever, as the other two boys silently agreed with him. As he went to pick up his stuff, Amami's eye caught sight of the clock on the wall. It was 4 o'clock in the morning, and they had been writing since 7 in the evening the previous day. The phrase 'time flies when you're having fun' could apply to the situation.  
"You coming, Kiibo?" Amami beckoned for his roommate to head back to their apartment together.  
"You go ahead Amami. Um, there's something I need to do here. I'll ,um, catch up in a minute."  
Ouma raised an eyebrow as Kiibo said this. Amami just shrugged, and set off for his apartment, but more importantly, his own bed.

Amami leaving left just Kiibo and Ouma. A few moments would pass before Ouma said something to the other boy.  
"I guess you stayed to have me apologise to you..."   
Ouma's head was facing the ground as he said this.  
"O-oh, no Ouma, I'm really not that bothered by what you said.  
"No, I need to say sorry. I was wrong to say that to you. I'm just-" Ouma paused to sigh. "I'm really tired at the moment."   
This was obvious from just looking at him. Large bags under his eyes and his disheveled hair showed how tired he was.

"No need to apologise, Ouma. I actually wanted to ask you about something else..."   
Kiibo looked up at Ouma as he said this. He then asked Ouma his question.  
"Are you, b-by any chance, nervous about the show soon?"   
As Kiibo asked this question, Ouma looked back down to the floor, as he blushed slightly. When he tried to answer, he considered lying, but he didn't have the energy to do so. So he told the truth for once.

"Yeah. I am. How did you figure it out?" Ouma feebly asked Kiibo. This embarrassing situation had reduced Ouma to a quiet state. He didn't like being like this, especially around other people.   
"You've been acting quite on edge, and getting really stressed whenever the show is mentioned. You're pretty good at hiding it, but I recently came to realise your odd behaviour."  
Kiibo was right, over the past few days of working towards the band, Ouma seemed more volatile than usual, and a lot more stressed.  
Ouma sat quietly, thinking about how he had messed up, letting his true emotions be seen by someone else. Well, someone other than Saihara.

 

"You really can be like a robot sometimes, Kiibo."  
Ouma gave a tired laugh as he said this. Kiibo gave a soft smile at Ouma's comment, before starting to speak again.  
"Ouma, please if you're not ready to go up onto that stage, you must tell us. We can only do this if we are all ready."   
Ouma really didn't like sharing his emotions with other people. It always lead to situations like this, where people offered him help. He didn't want their help, he didn't trust people enough to take their help. So he would put up a wall of an over the top personality, and many lies. This would usually drive people away. But sometimes, it happened, and he would lie his way through the situation, as usual.

"I'll be fine come showtime, Kiibo. Don't worry about me." Ouma had now adapted his usual eccentric persona again. He didn't have the energy to put on his usual act, but he just wanted Kiibo to leave now.  
He appreciated Kiibo's attempt to help him, but Ouma believed he didn't need it.  
"Are you sure?" Concern for Ouma was in Kiibo's voice.  
"I'll be fine, don't you worry!"  
With that confirmation, Kiibo left the apartment, and headed back to his apartment for a very long sleep.  
As Kiibo left, Ouma almost instantly fell asleep on the sofa. Like the other two, he needed a long sleep.

Yet again, Ouma had lied. He wouldn't be fine. He was absolutely terrified of going on stage, and he was now being forced to face his fears head first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	15. Calm Before The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final preparations are made on the day before the show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah so I just realised that this almost has 100 kudos! That's insane! Thank you all so much!!!! It makes me so happy to see that people enjoy my writing! Without further ado, please enjoy this chapter!

They had one last day to prepare themselves for show. The two weeks had gone by incredibly quick, and the group were now standing at the foot of their first show. All of them felt confident in their ability, they knew the show would go fine performance wise, and the majority of the boys were fine with going up onto the stage. All except for Ouma. But despite this fear constantly playing on his mind, he just got on with practicing, hoping he would have some kind of burst of courage when the time came. This time was about to come, and he wasn't really feeling any better.

It was another early day, with the morning sun slowly making its way through the windows. It would be a while before the others came to the apartment for the final practice. They had the whole day to prepare, as none of them had any classes that day. They could just focus on the music, and the next days show.

Saihara felt great, he had a great nights sleep for once, and he felt great about the show. Ouma hadn't slept at all. He spent the entire night tossing and turning, playing through the various ways everything can go wrong in his head. Although he was tired, he was used to it and had become good at hiding it. He still had his confidence and bombast he was known for, despite hardly being able to keep his eyes open. Saihara had noticed how Ouma was acting this morning.  
"Ouma, you look, like, really tired. Are you sure you're alright?"   
Saihara sounded genuinely concerned about his friend.  
"What do you mean, my beloved?" The awkwardness of the nickname had now worn off, and Ouma would casually use it again. "I'm wide awake! I'm full of energy! I'm just soooooo excited for the show tomorrow!" Ouma cheerily lied.  
"Uh huh." Saihara was unconvinced. He could tell what Ouma could really feel, he knew him too well.

Saihara could tell that something was bothering the other boy, and Saihara needed to get to the bottom of it. He wanted to begin some detective-like questioning, but Ouma had already started to take the conversation in a different direction.  
"We really have come far, haven't we Saihara?"  
Ouma looked out the window as he said this. The early morning clouds swirled against a backdrop of orange. A dreamy look was in his eyes. It took Saihara a minute to realise he was talking about the band.  
"Yeah, I guess we really have. Yeah." Saihara took a seat next to Ouma, the light resting calmly on the two of them. Saihara took note of how the gentle sunlight made Ouma look even more beautiful.

"I mean it's been, what, less than a month? And we've already got our first concert. Just you watch, we'll be signed in the next month!"  
Ouma spoke with excitement in his voice, as he thought about their hopeful future. As he excitedly talked about the band, Saihara just listened. He took in every perfect little thing about the smaller boy. This felt perfect, he didn't want this moment of calm to end.  
"Don't get too ahead of yourself, Ouma. We'll get their eventually." Saihara giggled as he replied to the smaller boy.  
Neither of them realised how close the two of them were to each other. They were sitting close together, and Ouma rested his head on Saihara's shoulder. Their hands brushed against each other several times.  
"Thank you Saihara. Thank you for being here." Ouma had a small smile as he said this.  
The pair of them sat there for a while, not really knowing what they were, but being glad that they were together. 

Saihara considered telling Ouma how he felt. It felt like the perfect time, but he was still incredibly nervous. He still couldn't see that Ouma was obviously interested in him. As well as the fact that the two of them casually had intimate moments like what had just happened, Saihara was just lacked a lot of common sense. He was also terrified of rejection. Despite all of this, the main reason he didn't confess was because he had to ask Ouma about something more important. As the two of them looked at the slowly changing skyline, Saihara asked Ouma a question he'd heard several times before.  
"Are you sure you're alright, Ouma?"

The small boy immediately stiffened as Saihara asked this question. Ouma started to stand up as soon as he realised what Saihara had asked. As he left his side, Saihara felt sad at the loss of Ouma's body heat. Ouma slipped his mask back on.  
"I'm fiiiiine, Saihara! Don't worry!"   
Ouma's playful tone would trick anyone into believing his words, but Saihara knew him too well.  
"But you've been acting weird recently, and you seem stressed. Are you sure you're ready for the show?"   
Ouma let out a deep sigh. He didn't want this conversation again.

"I'm completely fine, Saihara. I'm okay, I promise."  
Ouma's voice was completely deadpan, and Saihara could tell that he really didn't want to talk right now.  
"O-okay Ouma." Saihara stuttered. "I just want you to be happy."  
"Don't worry. I'm completely fine. I'm 100% ready for this show!"   
Yet again, Ouma had lied.  
The purple haired boys words didn't convince Saihara, but he decided to just let it go. He really didn't want to annoy Ouma at this time.   
"The other guys'll be here soon, so get ready." Ouma chirped as he left the room.

Saihara plugged his guitar in, and rested it on his lap. He just sat, and took a look around the room. Sheets of paper with lyrics scribbled onto them lay strewn around the room. Momota's drum kit had been set up at the centre of the room for a while now, and several amps stood around the place. Ouma was right, the band really had come far. They had put so much effort into the band so far, and Saihara didn't want it any other way. He loved what he did, and he was ready to take it to the next level.

Eventually, the rest of the band arrived at the apartment. Amps were plugged in, drumsticks twirled, and guitars were tuned, and they were ready to go. They had become very efficient at getting everything ready to go for rehearsing. They were used to playing with each other, as they had been practising almost everyday. Saihara and Kiibo's guitars complemented each other wonderfully, and Momota's drumming was impactful. Amami's smooth bass playing kept the music together, and Ouma's pleasant voice worked beautifully with the instrumentation. They had the skill, chemistry and energy, which made them a great band.

The final rehearsal was over, and all that stood between 'Killing Harmony' and their first show was a single night. Ouma just hoped he could get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!!  
> I'm sorry for the inconsistent updates, I'm working to have chapters out as soon as possible.  
> Yet again, thank you so much for reading!!!


	16. The Show Must Go On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killing Harmony take the stage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy this chapter!

The day had finally come. The day Ouma had dreamed of for years. He had always wanted to take the stage, sing his heart out and be met with uproarious applause from the audience. He was getting exactly what he wanted from his life, but for some reason, he felt sick. He was nothing short of terrified of performing. It was too late to turn back from the situation, he was in this for the long run. He could've prevented this in so many ways, but his confidence and lack of common sense didn't allow him to think rationally sometimes. It didn't help that he preferred to hide his emotions, rather than getting the support he needed.

The venue wasn't too far away from Saihara and Ouma's apartment, so transporting their equipment would be fairly easy to do. They would just load everything into the back of Momota's car, and take it to the show. Ouma was working on getting everything into the car with Momota. He was knelt down next to the drum kit, trying to dismantle it.  
"Why is your drum kit so awkward, Momota?" Frustration was in Ouma's voice.   
"What do you mean?" Momota was confused by what the other boy had said.  
"There's just so many parts, it's gonna be a pain to get into the car. Does it really need to be this big?"  
He lifted the bass drum up into his arms, struggling to carry it. As he tried to get to the door, it almost slipped from his grasps. Momota was right next to him, and stopped the large drum from crashing into the ground.  
"Hey man, let me take that." Momota's voice was kind as he offered to help Ouma.

As Momota put his hands onto the drum to carry it, Ouma jolted away from him.  
"It's fine. I've got it." Ouma snapped.  
Momota was almost physically knocked over by this outburst which was quite out of character for the other boy. It was obvious that Ouma was on edge, he was bothered by something. Momota had a good idea what it was. He followed Ouma down to the car to make sure he didn't drop the drum. When they got there, they realised they might have a space issue.

"Ok, um, looks like we may have to rethink this..."  
The boot of the car was full. A guitar, an amp and a large coil of wires filled it. The three spare seats were also taken up by similar things, leaving no room for the full drum kit.  
"There really is no space is no space, huh..." Momota sighed.  
"Wow, thanks for stating the obvious. Really helpful!" Ouma sarcastically shouted. He started to storm off, he just wanted to go back to his room. He just wanted to worry in privacy. But instead Momota decided to try and help.

He was stopped by Momota calling out to him.  
"Ouma, wait!" Momota was determined to find out what was bothering his friend.  
Ouma turned around, wearing an annoyed expression on his face.  
"What." He was blunt with the way he said this.  
"You seem bothered by something. Are you sure everything's okay?"   
Before Momota could even finish asking the question, the other boy exploded.  
"Everything is just fine! Absolutely fucking peachy! It's all going brilliantly!"  
Ouma's face was red with anger, and his voice cracked as he practically yelled his frustrations at Momota. He ran off back inside, leaving Momota silently taken aback by the immense outburst. He realised that he not only saw anger in Ouma's outburst, but also fear and worry. Momota knew that Ouma was scared, and that was a pretty large problem. He wanted to help Ouma, but he had to deal with the problem of getting the drums into the car.

Saihara sat at the stool of a bar, sipping on a glass of water. It was far too early to drink anything stronger. But it wasn't like he drank alcohol anyway, he had a whole host of reasons he didn't like to drink. He was inside a local club, which had a stage taking up a decent amount of it. A stage that Saihara would step up onto in a few hours. He had time to kill, since everything else had already been sorted out. He wanted to help Momota get everything into the car, but he insisted him and Ouma could handle it themselves. Kiibo and Amami both had classes during the day, so that left Saihara by himself. He decided he would spend that time at the venue he was to play later in the evening.

The place was pretty empty, as a club should be at midday. The only other people who were there seemed to be members of the other bands playing before them. Saihara had seen on the schedule that two other were bands playing that night. "Trigger Happy Havoc" and "Goodbye Despair" were there names, and Saihara thought that, name wise, "Killing Harmony" fit in perfectly. He saw a group of three people sat chatting with each other, and assumed they were one of the other two bands. He swallowed his usual anxiety, and decided to go up to the group and strike up a conversation.

Saihara went up to the table, and started to talk the group of three.  
"Hey. So I assume you're one of the other bands?"   
He was came across as slightly socially awkward, but that was normal for Saihara.  
A boy with sharp brown hair and a green necktie looked up at him, a kind smile on his lips.  
"Why yes, we are. I'm Hinata." Hinata gestured towards a happy looking guy with frizzy white hair. "Thats Komaeda."  
He then gestured to a pink haired girl, who was absorbed in a small handheld game. "And that's Nanami."  
Komaeda gave a small wave to Saihara, but Nanami was too immersed to greet the boy.  
"Together we form "Goodbye Despair". 

"Saihara. Nice to meet you." He politely greeted the three of them. "I'm the guitarist for 'Killing Harmony', the band just after you."  
"I guess all bands have to have edgy names nowadays, huh?" Hinata replied.  
"Sounds like it. It was our singers idea." Saihara chuckled as he bought up Ouma.  
"Well ours was taken from some video game Nanami played once..." Komaeda interjected.  
"Is that even legal?" Saihara felt the detective in him rise up.  
"You make a good point!" Hinata laughed as he came to this realisation.

The four of them spent a while talking about nothing much. They chatted about what instruments they played, music taste and general band things. This went on until Momota strolled through the door. Saihara spotted him, and decided he should help him with the equipment.  
"It was great meeting you guys. I need to go help with setting things up. I'm looking forward to the show, good luck!" Saihara said as he got up from his seat.  
"Thank you. It's been great talking to you, we wish you luck too!" Hinata exclaimed.  
"Thanks, I think we'll need it." Saihara sounded worried as he went to help Momota.

'Goodbye despair' had just left the stage, to a decent amount of applause from the small crowd. There weren't many people there, but that was to be expected. Literally nobody had ever heard of any of these tiny bands, so the handful of people were regulars of the club, or people just looking to hear some live music. The scale of the performance was tiny. Yet Ouma was terrified. He just stood slightly offstage, his heart beating far too fast as he watched Amami and Momota set everything up on the stage. This was it, the moment that had haunted him for two weeks now. This crippling fear was the product of his over confidence, and he regretted all of it. He felt sick. He felt dizzy. He just wanted to go home. He stood there, waiting for the moment to come. Finally, the time came. They were all plugged in, ready and rehearsed. 

Saihara stood beside him, up until it was time to go onstage. He knew Ouma was not ready to go, and he wanted to help. He had tried to, but Ouma would just refuse, and push away the help. It had all led up to this point. As the group went to go onstage, Ouma didn't move. Saihara looked back to see a small, timid boy, frozen in fear. Saihara quickly went to him, grasping his hand.  
"Ouma, are you alright? Can you hear me?" Saihara was concerned, he could see the fear in the smaller boy's eyes.   
"I can't do it." Ouma's voice was small and scared. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I can't do it-"

Saihara embraced the smaller boy in his arms, holding him close as he nervously spoke. Ouma immediately felt comforted and safe in Saihara's arms. His erratic breathing slowed as Saihara's warmth spread across his body. Ouma felt calmed by Saihara's arms and soft words. He begun to think rationally again as he stopped panicking. The two stood there for a few minutes, just breathing, until Saihara spoke to Ouma.  
"We don't have to do this if you can't, Ouma. It's not too late to drop out." Saihara quietly said this to Ouma, who knew what he had to do.

"No. I need to do this. I can't let you down. I need to overcome this fear."   
Saihara was surprised to hear very little fear in Ouma's voice, and the confidence beginning to come back. Saihara wanted Ouma to be completely sure he could do this, though.  
"Ouma, are you definitely sure you can do this?" Saihara's voice was full of concern.  
"Trust me, Saihara. I can do this. I need to do this. No lies, I promise, my beloved."   
Ouma smiled at Saihara, as he turned to take the stage. 

As the group walked up onto the stage, a man at the back of the club looked back up at the stage. He wore a black suit, and a crimson tie that gave him an aura of professionalism. His white hair glimmered in the flashing lights, and his sharp, teethy grin glinted. He was looking for new talent, and he hoped to find it in this band. He sat back, and watched the show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	17. Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the end of the show, the band are approached by an offer they can't refuse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say that I really appreciate all of the comments I receive on this, I read all of them and they mean so much to me. I'm so sorry that I don't reply to some of them, but know that I deeply appreciate all of them, every single one I receive makes my day! Thank you all for the continued support!
> 
> Please enjoy this next chapter! :)

The show went surprisingly well. They weren't up there long, maybe 20 minutes, but everything went fine in the end. Ouma spent the start of the show nervously huddled behind the microphone, but he quickly abandoned his fear and made the best of the opportunity. By the end of their set they were full of energy and confidence. Ouma had a fantastic stage presence when he got into it, and everyone else's playing was great. They might've missed a few notes here and there, but that's to be expected. What's important is that they put on a great show, and the audience agreed. 

They were at the last song in their set. This was the first song they had written, the song Saihara wrote about Ouma many years ago. Ouma was sat on an amp as the slow, beautiful melody filled the room. The song made him nostalgic, and it reminded him of why he loved Saihara. The lyrics had been changed, so Ouma didn't realise that the original had actually been about him, yet the song still meant a lot to him. He stared at Saihara across the stage as he sung his heart out.

It felt good to sing a song so special to him in front of a crowd. It made him happy, and at that point he knew the stage was where he was made to be.

The moonlight reflected off of the mirrors of Momota's small car, which was currently being overloaded with equipment. To the group surrounding the car's displeasure, it seemed that not everything wanted to fit.  
"Why isn't this fitting? I got it all in this morning!"   
Momota grumbled while jamming a guitar in the backseat.  
"Hey, be careful with that. Focus on what you're doing!"   
Amami tried to stop Momota from breaking something expensive. Momota just tiredly moaned.  
"I just wanna go to bed man..."  
While Momota was sleepily jamming equipment into the car, a suit and tie approached the group of boys.

"That was quite the show you guys put on. I'm impressed! And trust me, that is an achievement. Very little impresses me."  
A streetlight lit up a rather short, well dressed man, with a sharp grin and white hair. He also had a surprisingly high voice.  
As the mysterious man praised the group, they all turned to look at him. As the leader of the band, Ouma took it upon himself to confront the man.  
"Why thank you, old man! D'you want an autograph already?"  
Ouma joked around with him, not knowing what this man had to offer.  
"Hey, watch your tongue, kid. I'm here to give you a once in a lifetime opportunity!"  
The man snapped, before producing a small black card and handing it to Ouma.

"I'm Adachi Yuuto, CEO of Kuma records. I'm looking for a new band to sign, and I think you guys might be it."  
Ouma held the small slip of card in his hand, stunned into silence. Saihara decided to take on speaking duties, although he was also shocked beyond words.  
"You mean after seeing only one show, you want to give us a record deal?" Saihara could hardly believe he was saying those words.  
"Trust me." Adachi stated. "I know ultimate talent when I see it! I can see you guys going far."  
This genuine compliment made all five of them feel proud of themselves, and most importantly each other. This really was going well so far.  
"W-why th-thank you Mr. Adachi! It's an honour to have you offer us this opportunity!"   
Saihara stammered his way through thanking the businessman, and Adachi chuckled lightly.  
"No, thank you for being so Goddamn good! Be sure to call me when you're ready to talk."

With this, he wandered off into the night, leaving the group of boys speechless.  
"Did we really just..." Momota confusedly mumbled.  
"Yes Momota, we did just get a record deal."

Saihara and Ouma walked through the moonlit midnight streets together, carelessly laughing and chatting, just like best friends do. It took them a while to get everything into the car, but they finally figured it out. There was no room left in the end, meaning the pair of them had to walk back home.  
"Oh, man. That was so much fun! They loved us! Did you hear that applause!" Ouma exclaimed.  
"They all liked us, especially that Adachi guy." Saihara replied.  
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that whole thing! Everything is going so well right now!"  
"If we do get signed, we'll have to do that a bunch more."   
Saihara casually said to the boy beside him. He sounded slightly concerned.  
"Don't threaten me with a good time, my beloved!"   
Ouma felt carefree, and had forgotten about the start of the show.

"Are you going to be able to do it again?" Saihara was only thinking about the wellbeing of his friend, and Ouma realised this.   
"Trust me, Saihara. I know that the only way I can get past this stage fright is to face it head on."   
Ouma looked into the eyes of his trusted friend, showing that he truly meant what he said.  
"Promise?" Saihara questioned.  
"I promise, my beloved." Ouma smiled as he spoke, which helped change the mood of the suddenly serious conversation.

"I ended up really enjoying it all when we got into the swing of things."   
Saihara and Ouma continued their rambling deep into the night, not caring for how loud they were. They didn't care, they were on top of the world. This all continued until they reached the apartment door. As Saihara fiddled with the keys, Ouma pressed up against him. He rested his head on his shoulder.  
"Hey, Saihara."  
He turned to look at the shorter boy next to him.  
"Thank you. For everything."  
Saihara softly smiled at the smaller boy, before entering the apartment. 

Ouma crashed onto his bed as soon as he got to his room. He needed a long sleep, he had an important phone call in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another reference to a song in the title of this chapter!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	18. Ode To Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A group of sleep deprived boys sign a contract.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your support, and thank you for reading!

Ouma had come to the terms with the fact that his sleep schedule was ruined. Everything he was involved in made it so he would lose those precious hours of rest. Whether it was his classes, spending time with his bandmates, or working on the band itself, he could find the time or will to fall asleep. A lot of lost sleep was because of their first show. Now he had lost sleep because of how excited he was. So he sat, phone in hand, looking at the number on the card. It was probably far too early to be calling, but he didn't care at this point.

His fingers trembled as he punched the number into the phone. He fiddled with the card he had been given, he had folded the corners of it so much it was about to fall apart. As the phone rung, he just sat in silence, listening closely to the slow methodical beeping of the phone. He reminded himself to behave while on the phone, no insults or antics. He didn't want to mess this up. The beeping carried on for what felt like an eternity, until the deceptively high pitch voice of the labels CEO chimed in.  
"Hello, Yuuto Adachi speaking."  
"Mr Adachi? T-this is Ouma Kokichi, I'm from the band you met last night."   
Ouma was audibly nervous. He stuttered his way through the greeting because of his nerves. After all, this was his one shot to take his band far.

"Ah, yes. So let's get down to business..."  
Ouma listened intently to Adachi's tinny voice coming from the phone.  
"I want to give you a record deal."  
Although he had already heard those words, Ouma was still stunned into silence. It was hitting him in waves, the fact that he had been handed this opportunity so quickly, it was so surreal.  
"You guys were just so good on stage! You had that energy and skill that is lacking from today's music." He continued.  
"Oh, um t-th-thank you Mr Adachi."  
The man on the other end couldn't tell, but Ouma was blushing because of the genuine compliment.

"So I wanna sign you guys. You'll do a few shows, record some stuff, release an album. What do ya say, kid?"  
Ouma didn't have to think twice about his answer.  
"Of course, we'll join your label."   
Ouma's response was immediate. His heart beat hard against his chest, as it hit him again. He was about to get signed to a record label.  
"That's great! I'll just need you all to come down to the office and sign a few things."  
Ouma was already stood up and getting dressed, wanting to get out as soon as possible.  
"Oh by the way kid, you can drop the formal bullshit."  
With a chuckle, Adachi hung up.

"Saihara! Wake up!"   
Ouma's energised voice immediately pulled the other boy out of his deep sleep. He really didn't need his roommate shouting at him at this moment in time. He propped himself up in his bed, trying to figure out why Ouma was shouting.  
"Get your emo ass up! We need to move now!"  
Saihara decided to ignore the emo comment, and instead questioned Ouma's urgency.  
"Why? Can i just go back to sleep please?"  
"No! Your life is about to change, so put some clothes on!"  
Saihara was confused by the whole 'life changing' thing he had just mentioned, so he asked more questions.  
"What's going on?"   
It was a short simple question, which Ouma replied to bluntly.

"A record deal is what's going on!"  
Saihara instantly remembered what had happened the previous night. He then realised that Ouma was being serious. His life really was about to change. He quickly put some clothes, and head out to get signed.

The five members of killing harmony all sat around a table at a local diner. They had all rushed down to and only just realised how hungry they were after the signing had happened. They all scribbled their names at the bottom of a page, and their future was set. This was the beginning of their rise to fame. A rise that started with a breakfast diner. Most of them had neglected breakfast, as well as sleep. They really were just a group of useless insomniacs. Momota lifted a slice up to his mouth, taking a large bite of it. He slowly chewed, before wearily speaking to the others at the table.

"So we have more shows soon?"   
Momota knew the answer, but couldn't quite wrap his head around the truth.  
"That's what our manager said."  
Amami took a sip of his coffee after answering the other boy.  
"Woah."  
Momota's exhausted but awestruck tone summed up the mood of the group at that moment.  
"And he wants an album?"   
Momota continued asking for clarification.  
"Well we have the songs, so it shouldn't be too hard."  
Saihara's words were confident, but he sounded weary.  
The boys went back to eating, and the only things they all wanted was good food and a long rest.

"This breakfast is the most normal thing that has happened in a long while."   
Momota laughed, and everyone silently agreed.  
"Yeah, this has been a strange past few days, huh." Kiibo spoke up.  
"It's been pretty eventful." Amami commented.  
"Pretty odd as well." Added Saihara.  
"Yeah, but this breakfast is pretty good." Ouma tiredly muttered this, shovelling a spoonful of egg into his mouth.

The boys remained in a tired silence for the rest of the meal. Very few words were exchanged, until they were ready to leave. With brief farewells, the boys all went back home. For once, Ouma had a good sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think the most fun part of writing this is making references to songs.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	19. Humility

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very important meeting takes place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy!

The wooden sticks in Momota's hands quickly tapped against the different parts of the drum kit he sat behind. He wasn't playing anything in particular, just laying down a smooth beat. It was almost automatic, he didn't even realise that he was doing it. As he casually played, the others around him just sat, idly chatting, scrolling through various social media feeds, or tuning instruments. Momota continued absentmindedly carrying the beat for a bit longer, before to finish off with the crash of a cymbal. He started spinning his drumstick in his hand while talking to the other three boys in the room.

"I think I'm getting pretty good at this drumming thing."   
He still spun the stick in his hand, almost cocky about it. Saihara looked at Momota, attempting to make a conversation out of Momota's fairly simple statement.  
"So you weren't any good before all this?" Saihara asked, and Momota almost dropped the stick.  
"Well, I mean, I wasn't really the best, but I guess I could kinda play them..."   
Momota scratched the back of his head as he awkwardly stumbled through talking.  
"But now I've improved so much, and it's actually fun this time!"  
Amami glanced up at the boy behind the kit, smiling warmly. He liked knowing that his friend was actually enjoying their second attempt at a band.

"I feel like that as well, I think I've gotten a lot better at playing this thing since joining. I'm starting to regret stopping playing it."  
Saihara patted his trusty guitar, and as he spoke, he thought about how he also enjoyed playing his instrument. It was all going a lot better than the last time he picked up the thing.  
"W-wait, why did you stop playing, Saihara?"  
Although Kiibo was comfortable with the people around him, he still stuttered and felt nervous from time to time. As soon as this question was asked, Saihara's mood took a nosedive. He really didn't want this question. He didn't want to be reminded of his mistakes. He didn't want to remember his biggest regret. Quickly, he made up an answer he knew wouldn't satisfy anyone.

"Um, i-i don't really know. I, uhh, guess I kinda got bored with it..."  
He was right. His feeble cover up of the truth didn't fool anyone. Thankful, they could tell that Saihara didn't want to talk about it, so no one pressed further. After that, the only sound in the room was the continuous quiet sound of Momota's drumstick twirling round his fingers. Amami and Kiibo went back to what they were doing before the conversation started, but Saihara just sat in silence, uncomfortably shifting. This wouldn't remain for long, as everyone's favourite loud leader emerged from the other room.

"Alright my loyal minions! Listen up!"  
Everyone had given up asking Ouma to stop using the embarrassing nickname, they had all just got used to letting Ouma say whatever he wanted. Ouma's voice was loud and bombastic as usual, and it took everyone by surprise. Momota jumped as he spoke, causing the stick he had been spinning for a while now to clatter to the ground. Ouma glanced down at the fallen drumstick, an apathetic look decorating his face.  
"That's tragic."  
Momota angrily scooped up the dropped stick, flipping Ouma off when he sat back up.

"Aaaaanyways, I've got some important information to tell you guys!"   
Ouma had a chipper tone, indicating that the news was probably good.  
"Get on with it!" Momota bluntly retorted, still frustrated about his stick.  
"Alright! Geez, you need to calm down space-boy!" Ouma teased. "The news is that we have a meeting!"  
"Wait, with that Adachi dude? Aw man, he kinda creeps me out..." Momota whined.  
"What are we meeting with him for?" Saihara asked, attempting to find out more about the situation.  
"Oh, nothing much. Only the future of our very lives!"   
Ouma was far too dramatic in announcing this. Amami hardly looked up from his phone, and Momota and Saihara just rolled their eyes. But the sarcasm was lost on Kiibo.

"Wait, w-what d-do you mean the future of our lives? Isn't that a bit overdramatic?" Kiibo worriedly squeaked, as clueless as ever.  
"Oh Kiibo, ya stupid bot! Of course I'm being hyperbolic! It's only that this meeting will pave the future for killing harmony! It's a pretty big deal!"  
That was another thing they had all gotten used to, Ouma's teasing. He meant no harm when he messed with his friends, and they all knew that.   
"We need to be their in two hours, so we better get going soon. And yes, it is with the strange bear man." Ouma snickered, smirking at Momota.  
"Awww man..."

The band sat in front of a large wooden desk, the sharply dressed man behind it. His trademark grin was on display, and his dark red tie glimmered in the light peeking through the blinds. The office walls were lined with various framed pictures of bands, with discs above them indicating their success. Ouma took note of how many different musical acts under this label were successful. He had heard of the majority of them, but maybe that was just the music nerd inside of him.   
"Welcome gentlemen!"   
Adachi's voice was upbeat as usual, as he shook each of their hands.  
"I'm assuming y'all know exactly why I gathered you here?"  
Half hearted nods and shrugs were the boys replies.  
"Well, now that you are signed to me, we need to discuss when you'll be playing shows, when you'll be in the studio, etcetera..."

From Adachi's words, Ouma could tell that they had gotten extremely lucky getting signed to a fairly large label so quickly. He wasn't alone in thinking this, as Saihara had already started questioning their boss on why he made this happen all so quickly.  
"Mr Adachi-" Before Saihara could get any further, the man behind the desk cut him of.

"You can drop the 'mr', it's all casual round here!"   
Adachi exclaimed, letting out a rather distinct laugh afterwards.  
"Oh, ok." Saihara continued, removing the prefix. "Adachi, we really appreciate that you signed us so quickly. But before we begin, we'd just like to know why you decided to do it?"  
Adachi leaned back his office chair, sighing as he did so.  
"The music industry is saturated with a lot of boring empty music. And I hate that. So I thought, no better way to remedy this than to find serious talent and energy to really shake up the game."  
Saihara blushed, as he realised the 'serious talent and energy' he mentioned was them.  
"I organised a small concert in a local club for small bands to have a chance to show their stuff. I did it hoping to find this fresh talent I wanted. And it looks like I did!"   
He gestured to the group with both hands as he spoke.

"Did we really do that well to convince you in one show?"  
Amami matter of factly asked the man before him.   
He only nodded in reply.  
"We haven't even recorded anything yet, how do you know it was a good idea?" Momota humbly asked.  
Adachi just stood up, and gestured around the room, specifically at the walls and their decorations.  
"Take a look around gentlemen. Everything on these four walls is a testament to my talent detecting skills."  
The five of them only just realised how many success stories kuma records had written. Each plaque on the wall represented a time their boss made a good decision. And he had made a lot of good decisions.

"And trust me when I say this, I think y'all were one of the most impressive bands I've seen in a long while."  
Ouma knew exactly what a liar looked like. He had to because of his frequent and complex lying. He could read the most subtle tells, and he knew exactly how people acted while lying. As he examined Adachi he could see no signs of a lie. That was a real self confidence boost for the secretly nervous boy.

"I know you guys will go far, no doubt. Now, let's get to the important stuff. We should start with talking about your shows in the near future..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I procrastinated so much in the process of writing this chapter. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


	20. Is There Anybody Out There?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tour begins, and the so does the second show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy!!

The meeting felt like it dragged on for hours. They weren't there for all that long, but they swore they had lost the entire day when they finally emerged from the office. Despite the boredom of the situation, several important things were set in stone. The first of which was a handful of gigs.

"I want you to support one of our larger acts out on the road."  
Adachi's proposition sounded pretty good to the boys.  
"Just a few shows, playing before the big group. It'll be great to get your name out there, people will get to see your skill."

Adachi's next major point on the bands roadmap was a pretty big thing.  
"After all those shows, we'll get you into the studio. Record a few tracks, put 'em out there, and hopefully then you'll gather a small following. The rest will be history!"  
Adachi's confidence was starting to rub off onto the band. This was the further than they thought they'd ever get. It seemed that Ouma's lofty dreams of fronting the biggest band were as real as they ever could be. He just hoped his dreams of a relationship with Saihara would come true soon. 

They left the office positively buzzing, all of them excited and ready for the first show. It was a small tour in a supporting slot, but it was still a tour. They were going up in the world.

Day one had arrived, the first of three shows they would play. Thankfully, Ouma had slept a bit better in the run up to this show compared to the last one. A slight fear still gnawed at the corners of his mind, but he knew he could conquer this stage fright. He couldn't let his bandmates down by running from his fears. He wouldn't let himself do that. If he wanted the adoration of thousands, he would need to be comfortable of standing up in front of more than a handful of people.

Momota's car pulled up onto the pavement outside of the venue they were set to play inside of. They all fit inside this time, as Momota had already dropped off the equipment earlier in the day. Ouma immediately stepped out, looking up at the club before them.  
"Well, it's not an arena, but it'll have to do!"   
Ouma joked with his trademark smug sarcasm.  
"It's only our second show, Ouma. We're a long way from arenas." Saihara laughed as he played off of Ouma.  
"I've always liked smaller places like this when it comes to live music." Amami leaned against the cars frame, looking up at the venues sign. "It all feels more personal and energetic. All that's lost in an arena show."  
"You have a point avocado, but arenas are just waaaay cooler!" Ouma exclaimed with a childlike wonder in his voice.  
Amami just scowled at the nickname a childish tone.

Kiibo nervously fidgeted as he stood alongside the others. He had something to admit to the group, and with a meek voice he did so.  
"I, um, guess I can't really s-say my opinion on the matter. I really haven't been to all t-that many concerts."  
Kiibo blushed deeply, expecting a bad reaction, but surprisingly, positively came from Ouma.  
"Hey, don't worry Kii-boy! You'll get to see concerts of all sizes, all across the globe! And the best part is, you'll be playing guitar in all of 'em!"  
Ouma's supportive comments were fairly uncommon, but reminded everyone that he cared deeply for his close friends.

"So are you guys just gonna stand there and bicker, or are we going to get inside?"  
Momota shut his door behind him, making sure to lock it.  
"Oh sorry, Momota! We were just engaging in friendly conversation, it's pretty fun! You should try it some time!"   
Ouma's cheesy grin stretched from one eye to the other. Momota just rolled his eyes, choosing not to entertain Ouma. Despite occasional nice comments, Ouma was still known for his 'friendly' teasing.   
"Come on, our entrance is round this way."   
Momota beckoned for the others to follow him down the side of the building. They all trailed after him, until they were inside some kind of backstage area.

The place was a bit bigger than the place of their previous show. More room, a bigger stage, but not by much. It felt like the next logical step after the first show. They sat around backstage, just waiting to be told what to do. While waiting, Ouma stood at the side of the stage, watching as everything was set up and tested. He entered an almost trance like state, hypnotised by how mundane the whole thing was. Ouma was so engrossed in observing, he didn't realise a figure approaching him.

Ouma was pulled out of his hypnotism by a hand shaking his shoulder. He jumped at the contact, giving the taller boy a shock as well.  
"Woah! I'm sorry man, didn't mean to scare ya!"  
Ouma looked up at the person who had approached him, and the first thing he noticed was his bright pink hair. This one thing caused Ouma to realise exactly who he was talking to.  
"Oh, your from the band headlining these shows, aren't you? Soda, right?"  
Ouma's deductions were confirmed by the surprised look on the other boys face.  
"Oh, um, yeah! That's like, the first time anyone's recognised me."   
Soda was surprise by Ouma's recognition of him.  
"Well, I would hope I know who you are, I mean, my bands on stage just before you."  
Realisation filled Soda's eyes, as he figured out who Ouma was.  
"I was wondering when you guys were going to show up! Anyway, I've heard quite a bit about you guys..."

The two carried on with this casual conversation for a while, discussing life in a band, music taste, and nothing in general. Through conversation, Ouma found that Soda's band already had an album recorded and released, as well as a small but dedicated following. What really surprised Ouma was how much Soda knew about him and his band.  
"Adachi won't shut up about you guys, he thinks you guys are gonna be the next big thing."   
Soda sounded slightly annoyed by the CEO's bias, but was also excited to see why he thought.  
"I mean, I don't think we're all that great, but I'm gonna take his word for it. I just hope I can live up to the expectations..."  
Ouma was slightly worried, as he realised that several people expected great things from him, and he didn't know if he could deliver.  
"Don't worry man, you'll be great. The big boss is never wrong!"

The place was filling up slowly. More and more people arrived at the venue, ready and waiting for the show to start. The crowd stood, drinks in hand, awaiting for the show to begin. Just at the side of the stage, Killing Harmony stood, patiently waiting for their cue. Their hearts were collectively beating through their chests, as the anxiety of doing this was far from wearing off. Ouma knew he could do this, but he still feared it greatly. He still stood stiffly, and his breathing was shallow. Saihara noticed this, and went to reassure him.  
"Are you ready?" Saihara questioned.  
"As ready as I'll ever be!" Ouma's confident response was juxtaposed by his posture. "Trust me Saihara i can do this."  
Saihara was convinced by Ouma's few words, he knew for a fact he wasn't lying.  
With this, the group were given the cue to get onstage.

A few claps echoed through the room as the five of them got up there. Not too many though, no one wanted to put their drink down for the support act. The crowd was now moderately sized, not full, but still a reasonable amount of people to perform in front of. Especially on only the second time round. With as much confidence as he could muster, Ouma took hold of the microphone.  
"We are Killing Harmony, and I hope we can entertain you for a short while."  
Ouma's charm was liked by the people in the audience, and they earned a larger response from the audience. A small "Whooo!" could even be heard from the back of the place. With Ouma's words, the band began for a second time.

By the end of the first song, everyone in the venue, including those on the stage, were convinced that this band could really make it. They didn't believe it before, but the boys could feel the energy between them this time. By the end of song two, everyone in the place was moving. The crowd didn't know what made them so good, so enjoyable to watch, but they all loved it. The chemistry the boys had between them when on stage sold the band itself, never mind the individual musical skill they all possessed. It all came together to produce one hell of a show.

The sea of people would move to the beat of the song, hands held high in air. They would respond to anything Ouma said with cheering and applause, and Saihara's guitar solos were met with the same ecstatic response. It was only half an hour, but everyone had lost track of time, because of how impressive the bands performance was.

The show was coming to an end, and the audience had loved every bit of it. Ouma decided he would take a minute to talk to the people in the crowd.  
"Are you still here?" Ouma shouted into the microphone.  
He was met with a leviathan of noise from a now full venue. It was definitely the loudest thing any of them ever heard. But a mischievous grin decorated his face. His teasing wouldn't stop at friends.  
"I can't hear you! I said, are you all still here?"  
Somehow louder than last time, the crowd replied with cheers and shouts. They were literally screaming for more. Ouma basked in the response from the room.

As the audience cheered and awaited more, Ouma and Saihara made eye contact. Ouma had a look in his face that asked 'we're going to make it, aren't we?', and Saihara couldn't agree more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder how many other danganronpa characters I can put in this story as minor characters?
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	21. The Studio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killing Harmony enter the studio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you can enjoy this chapter!   
> Please read the notes at the end of the chapter.

"Thank you! We are killing harmony, and we hope to see you again soon!"  
They left the stage to insurmountable applause, and various chants for an encore. This was the last show they were set to play, and the immense reception was the same each night. Word spread fast about the band, and more people decided that they wanted to see this upcoming band. By the third show, the venues were full before killing harmony went on stage. And no one in the audience was disappointed.

"Woah, do they get louder every time?"  
Ouma commented lightheartedly. He was still coming down from the rush of adrenaline that hit all of them the second they stepped out. As they exited the stage, the sight of Soda caught his eye. The other boys had already taken their places on the side, so they could watch the main show. Ouma decided to go and see Soda before he was set to play.  
"Geez man! These were meant to be our shows! You guys are fantastic!" Soda exclaimed.  
"Thank you, I guess they really enjoy us, huh?" Ouma humbly replied.  
"Hell yeah they do! Adachi was right, man. You guys are the future of music!"  
Soda's voice was full of excitement, as he truly believed that this band was going to go places.  
"I really think you might be exaggerating a bit..." Saihara commented, joining in on the conversation.  
Ouma wanted to say he agreed with him, but he was really beginning to believe the hundreds of people who have shown to him that they have potential.

Half awake, Saihara lay in his bed. The consistent tapping of Ouma's pacing was slowly driving him mad. He was surprised he could hear such a subtle noise, as his ears still rung from the shows he had recently played. He could hear the occasional reply or question from Ouma as he spoke on the phone. Saihara didn't know for sure, but he had a pretty good idea who Ouma was conversing with. He drifted in and out of sleep, until Ouma barged in. Ouma waking him up was a surprisingly common thing for Saihara.  
"Wake up lazy bones! We've got work to do!"  
Ouma's ever enthusiastic voice woke Saihara up fully.

"Why do you always do this so early?"  
Saihara could only softly mumble these words, as he still struggled to keep his eyes open. Ouma thought Saihara looked cute when he was sleepy.  
"It's not my choice, we need to get going! We have music to record!"  
Despite the importance of this, Saihara was still reluctant to leave his bed.  
"Really? Today? Can't we do it some other day?" Saihara sounded worn out.  
"Just get out of bed! Don't make me get in there and drag you out!"  
Ouma swiftly left, and Saihara turned bright red. He instantly sprung out of the bed out of embarrassment.

The wheels of the car rolled smoothly down the street, as they followed the directions that they had been given. They all just sat in silence, awkwardly cramped into the small vehicle. It didn't help that they all had their instruments with them. Momota, who had the most room out of the five of them, casually switched on the car radio, filling the silence with music.  
"Y'know, you should get a bigger car, Momota. We can't keep doing this!"  
Saihara struggled to speak, as he was being compressed between Kiibo and Amami's bass guitar.  
"You think I can afford a larger car? I would've done so if I could!" Momota frustratedly replied.  
"We should get a van! A tour van!" Ouma chimed in.  
"And how do you suggest we finance that?" Amami never missed an opportunity to interject with his logic.  
"Um, we could beg the record label?"  
Ouma's suggestion caused silence to fall across the group, with only the radio playing in the background.  
"That's... That's actually a pretty good idea, Ouma."

They had arrived at the location that Adachi sent them to. A relatively inconspicuous looking building on a pretty normal street. It seemed that nothing interesting at all would happen inside. There was a sign above the door that read 'Jabberwock Studios', giving away exactly what the building was. One by one the members of the group entered the building, fitting their instruments through the door with them. Going through a few corridors, they eventually reached the recording room. A large control board stretched out across the length of the soundproofed room. It stood infront of a pain of glass, which was a window into the performance room. The board was covered in various sliders, knobs and buttons. To an outsider it looked very imposing, but a professional would know exactly how to use it. The all hoped the person sitting in front it was a professional.

"Well this looks... daunting." Momota uttered as he looked around the room.  
"Don't worry, I'll show ya round!"  
Everyone's attention was drawn to the person at the desk. She had long black hair, which had several other bright colours dyed into it. Her face was full of piercings. She embodied the word 'punk'  
"Ibuki Mioda is the name, and recording your songs is my game! Nice to meet you!"  
She stook out her hand, and Ouma shook it. He noted how she had a surprisingly intense grip.  
"I've heard a lot about y'all, I'm excited to work with you!"  
She definitely appeared to love her job.  
"Nice to meet you Mioda." Saihara said as he reached into the bag on his back, and producing a stack of papers and handing it to her. "These are the songs we have. Will they be good?"

She skimmed through the sheets of lyrics and music, a positively surprised look on her face. She put down the papers, and spun round to start fiddling with the long board.  
"Yeah, this is gonna be good. I've only read the music and I'm already impressed!"  
All of this honest praise made the humble band members feel even better about their music.  
"Alright then, shall we begin?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this chapter is feels like filler, im sorry if you're disappointed or didn't enjoy it. Personally, I'm not that proud of this chapter. I felt like I've had writers block recently, but I wanted to get new chapters out to not disappoint you guys. I think length between chapters is going to increase by a little bit for some time, until I feel like I can consistently produce updates I'm happy with. I'll still be updating fairly often, I'll just take more time. I'm sorry if I have disappointed anyone. Thank you for reading.


	22. What Are We Gonna Do?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The finishing touches are made on the EP, and Momota receives a letter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this chapter!

“Aaaaand that should do it!”  
Mioda flipped a few switches, and fiddled with various sliders and knobs. She spun around to face the other two boys in the room with a beaming grin. Saihara and Amami wore different expressions on their faces. Both were tired, as the past few days had been long and difficult, recording their songs and making sure it all sounded as it should. They had finally finished the final touches on the last song, just as the clock struck midnight. Everyone else in the band had decided to leave and rest, trusting the sound of the music to Saihara and Amami. All that was left to do was give it all one last listen, to ensure everything was good.

“And with that, we have an EP!”  
Mioda was still upbeat, despite the time. The two boys let out long sighs, deflating as the realisation of what they had done sunk in.  
“That was... that was certainly a long process, heh...” Amami exhaustedly muttered.  
“Don’t worry! You’ll get used to the long hours!” Mioda chirped.  
“I just want to sleep.”  
The small whimper came from behind unkempt blue hair and eyes with heavy bags underneath them.  
Saihara had realised what being in a band was really about, constantly being tired.  
“Well, I’m gonna leave you two to listen through one last time, just to make sure everything is peachy! I’ll be in the other room when you’re done.”  
Mioda left the room, and with her, any energy left in the room. Without words, Amami rose from his seat and pressed a few buttons on the control board. The playback of their songs begin, and Amami sunk back into his chair.

The pair of boys sat, taking in the music that played over the speakers, both struggling to keep their eyes open. Neither of them noticed any issues in the mix, and they felt satisfied with what they had created. If they weren’t so exhausted, they would be proud of themselves. It wasn’t until a couple songs in that conversation between the two begun. The melody that Saihara had written many years ago filled the room, taking Saihara back in time to simpler times. He was reminded of the time when he wrote the song, a time when they were young, a time when his crush on Ouma was rapidly developing. While Saihara basked in weary nostalgia, Amami was thinking. He had just come to a realisation about the very song the pair were listening to.

“You originally wrote this about Ouma, didn’t you?”  
To Saihara, the question from Amami came seemingly out of nowhere. They had spent the majority of the listening so far in relative silence, so a question like this caught him off guard. Although, It felt more like an accusation than a question to Saihara. It instantly took him out of his sleepy trance, as he turned red and stuttered his way through a defence.  
“N-n-no? H-h-how could-d you even-n? T-that m-m-makes no s-sense!”  
He continued to babble, which just proved Amami’s theory.  
“You told us you wrote this years ago, right when you and Ouma were in school together.”  
As Amami started, Saihara slowly blushed more and more.  
“And then you insisted on changing the lyrics, so that must mean the original lyrics were holding some kind of secret.” Amami’s carried on theorising.  
“What do you mean? I lost the original lyrics!” Saihara feebly tried to deflect Amami’s allegations.  
Amami just looked at him with a look that said ‘do you really think I believe that?’.  
“I honestly don’t put it past teenage you to write a song about your crush, so the original lyrics probably were about Ouma.”  
Amami continued.  
“H-hey! Was that meant to be an insult?” Saihara momentarily felt insulted, but then realised the bigger problem with what Amami had said.

“Wait a minute, I don’t have a crush on Ouma!” Saihara unconvincingly exclaimed.  
“Saihara, it’s painfully obvious at this point. You really don’t need to hide it anymore, everyone else has already figured it out.”  
Saihara had turned almost luminous red as Amami spoke, as he realised his little secret wasn’t as well hidden as he thought. He thought back to that conversation he had with Momota back when the band formed. Had everyone else really figured out his crush on the other boy? Had Ouma figured it out? After a few more moments of silence, Saihara decided to confess.  
“Ok, the song originally was about Ouma. And maybe I do have a small crush on him...”  
He just wanted to crawl into a ball and sleep forever as he spilt all of his secrets in front of Amami.  
“Small? I think it’s a bit more than small at this point...” Amami said with a breathy laugh.

As the song came to a close, Amami proposed something to Saihara.  
“You really should tell him. He’s into you as well, you know. You’ve got nothing to lose!” Amami encouraged.  
The other boy sat in silence, thinking over his options. Despite Amami’s encouraging words, Saihara knew he wouldn’t be able to muster the courage needed to tell Ouma the truth. He could easily walk on to a stage in front of hundreds, but telling a cute boy he liked him was far too much. At least the irrational fear of rejection was smaller and less scary when performing on a stage.

“Does he really like me back?”  
Saihara’s voice was small, as he asked Amami for an answer. He was met with a surprised Amami, who seemed genuinely taken aback by the words of the other boy.  
“How blind can you be, Saihara?” Amami replied with a laugh, indirectly answering Saihara’s question.  
As the music carried on, he thought about Amami’s words, and the implications they carried.

The pair spent the remainder of the duration of the music in silence, just focusing on the music. They were both far too tired to do anymore talking about social situations, so they just listened to the sounds they had made as a band. It all sounded great, but the two of them couldn’t tell. They had all heard the songs so many times across rehearsals, performances and recording, so the group were almost numb to the quality of their songs. If the two were to be honest, at that point they both wanted to be asleep, not listening to their own music. As the last track came to a close, they silently agreed that everything was fine, and went to tell Mioda. They were finally allowed to leave, and once again, collapse onto a duvet. 

As Saihara stepped out of the doorway of the studio, he took another look back. It made him think. He thought about how far they had come, but also how far they had to go before achieving their dream. Personally, Saihara wasn’t doing this for the fame, money or adoration of thousands. He was doing to see Ouma happy, as he wanted this more than anybody else. As this thought crossed his mind, he realised that his crush was probably too big to not confess soon.

 

It had been a long day for Momota. He knew he probably should stay at the studio with Saihara and Amami, but he needed sleep. Especially since he had work the next day. Doing and apprenticeship was hard work, especially when it was literal rocket science. Maybe that is an overstatement, but he did work at the space agency. He pulled his keys out of his pocket, and slid the right one into the door of his apartment. As his door swung open, something on the ground caught his eye. A white envelope, addressed to him. As he bent down to pick it up, he read who it was sent from.  
“Huh, strange. I wasn’t expecting a letter from the agency.” He thought out loud.  
Closing the door behind him, he walked into his apartment, letter in hand. He tiredly dropped onto a chair, just to read the letter before he went to sleep.

He carefully tore the paper envelope open, and pulled out the letter found inside. He began to read what was inside.

‘Dear Mr. Momota

As you know, you were offered an apprenticeship here at Japan’s space agency because of your outstanding performance and knowledge demonstrated throughout your academic life. Because of this we have great expectations of you.’

As he read, he failed to see why he had been sent this letter. Were they just sending him a letter to remind him of why he works there? Unlikely. He decided he should keep reading. It should tell him what’s up eventually...

‘Unfortunately we have seen a significant decrease in your performance at work as of lately.”

Ah. The very next line gave him his answer. That’s why they sent him a letter. Momota instantly realised what the letter was talking about. He didn’t want to admit it, but he knew the band was affecting every other aspect of his life. His sleep, his other friends, but most of all his job.

‘I do not know why exactly this is so, but I can infer why this has happened. I believe that your decline has to do with certain social activities you have been a part of recently. If this is the truth, I ask that you must stop partaking in such activities, or we will be forced to terminate your apprenticeship.

We shall discuss this further on your next day at work.

Sincerely,

Jin Kirigiri, head of Japan’s space agency’

As Momota read this, knots formed in the pit of the stomach. It took a while to dawn on him, but they were telling him to leave the band.He was being told to abandon his friends, abandon his dream. He had no idea what he was to do.  
“Oh, shit.”  
Momota could only bring himself to say this, as he sunk further into despair.  
He could tell that this probably wasn’t going to end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!


	23. For The Greater Good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bad sandwich, a bad meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy this chapter!

With everything going on in the band, the group decided to take a short break of sorts. Only a few days, before they would be set to practice and have more shows to play. They deserved the small break from life in the band. With all the recording and several shows they had done recently, they needed to stop for a few days. Mainly to get their sleep schedules sorted, but also to put a bit more focus on their education. They didn’t want to fall behind because of the band, after all. These days would give them chance to catch up with work, so they could comfortably return to their life in a band.

Saihara knew how to make a sandwich. It sounds like a given, but at this point in time he was struggling to do such a simple task. As he fumbled his way through spreading butter onto the slice, accidentally tearing the bread open in several places. By the time he had finished making it, his sandwich was in a sad state, hardly being held together.  
“Woooow, Saihara. That is one sad sandwich.” Ouma’s voice was full of fake pity and sarcasm.  
“Uhh, um, uhhh...” Saihara turned bright red. “I’m sorry?” He blurted out without really thinking.  
“Sorry? I don’t know what your apologising for, my beloved.” Ouma purred.  
That was it for Saihara. He had reached his limit with that last comment. Ouma had to know what he was doing to the taller boy. Saihara was too red to reply, so he quickly excused himself, taking his crappy sandwich with him.

It had been like this all morning, Saihara would feel so flustered that he would be unable to do simple things without blushing or stuttering. He hated being so awkward around his best friend. Now that he thought about it, this was the first time in a while that him and Ouma had been alone together. That must be why he was a complete wreck all morning. He didn’t want to admit it, but his crush on Ouma had grown greatly. It had reached the point where this was beyond a crush. For the first time in his life Saihara openly admitted to himself that he was in love.

“Awwww, why are you leaving me Saihara? Am I not good enough for you?” Ouma whined before breaking into crocodile tears, which left as soon as they came.   
“N-n-no that’s not-“  
Before he could finish, Ouma chased after Saihara, not wanting him to leave. He hugged the other boy from behind once he caught up, clinging on to him. This did nothing to help Saihara’s blush. It also knocked the poor sandwich out of his hands. It hit the ground with a pathetic slap.  
“Oh no! Your sandwich! What ever shall you do?”   
Ouma over dramatically gasped, teasing the other boy.  
Saihara couldn’t care less about his sandwich, and was more bothered about the close contact between him and Ouma. He knew he should break away, but he didn’t want to. He waited for Ouma to release him, but that didn’t happen. Instead, he rested his head on Saihara’s back. The two just stood still, in this strange embrace.

It should’ve been awkward, but the embrace felt warm and calming. It felt natural. It felt right. He could tell Ouma was relaxed and calm from the slow rhythm of his breathing. They stayed in each other’s embrace, until it dawned on Saihara. This was it, the time he would finally confess to Ouma. A sudden burst of courage made him not care for the consequences. He would do it, and hope for the best outcome. Taking a deep breath, he spoke up to the boy behind him.  
“Ouma, I think I need to talk to you, about something...”   
He had begun confidently, but trailed off towards the end. As this was said, Ouma’s body immediately stiffened, and he slowly pulled away from the other boy. Saihara panicked slightly, trying to think if he said anything wrong. He turned to see the shorter boy, staring at him with a blank expression. His usually expressive eyes were now cold and serious. Saihara felt almost too intimidated by his cold glare to continue speaking.

“I’m just gonna say it. For a while now, I think, um, I think I lik-“  
Right as Saihara was almost done with his confession, Ouma changed. In the blink of an eye, he had slipped on one of his many masks, and was acting his way out of the situation he was in. Saihara would be suprised by the sudden switch if he didn’t know the boy closely.  
“Oh, I’m sorry! Turns out I gotta leave, like, right now! Sorry, my beloved!”  
He began to run off, and Saihara reached out to stop him. Before he could be stopped, Ouma had ran off to his room, closing the door behind him. This type of behaviour wasn’t new for the smaller boy, but it still hurt Saihara that he avoided his confession. He decided to leave the smaller boy alone, and hope he would forget about this before the day was over. With a sigh, Saihara returned to trying to make a sandwich.

That morning made one thing obvious to him, that Ouma would be the one to confess. It was obvious to even Saihara now that the other boy was interested in him, so he would just wait for Ouma to come forward about his feelings. Saihara hoped that wouldn’t take long, but anything could happen with Ouma.

 

Momota feared the few days away from the band would spell the end of his career as a drummer. It had been a few days since he received the bleak letter, and his mood hadn’t improved. The others hadn’t been told of his situation, as he didn’t want to cause panic. The days before his return to work were filled with worry and fear, contemplating what he could do to maintain his lifestyle. His best shot was trying to convince the higher ups to let him stay. He knew he could talk his way out of this, it was all he had. Pulling up in the car park of the space agency, he took a deep breath. This conversation would change the course of his life. It could be the difference between an office job and super stardom.

“Momota, it’s good to see you.”   
A firm handshake took place between the two as Momota took his seat in front of the wooden desk. To say he was nervous would be an understatement. He had good reason to feel the nerves, as the man in front of him held a lot of power. Jin Kirigiri sat tall, his suit immaculate and his smile pure. He exuded a friendly energy, while also feeling rather serious and intimidating. Being the leader of Japan’s space agency and a family man at the same time was what gave him this almost overwhelming aura.  
“Usually I would have this matter taken care of by someone below me, but since it’s you, I thought I’d tend to it.”  
Momota stiffened in his seat as he started to speak.  
“I hand picked you, Momota, because I believe you to be the brightest and best our country has to offer. I expect that you’ll end up taking my position one day...”  
Kirigiri casually dropped this fact, flattering Momota beyond belief. He couldn’t fathom that he was picked to be the future leader of Japan’s space agency. It also gave the entire situation extra weight.  
“Mr Kirigiri...” Momota tried to speak, but couldn’t get it out.  
“And I like you. I think you are a brilliant, intelligent young man with a bright future.”  
Momota could feel himself getting flustered, as someone of such a high status praised him. It would all take a bad turn from that point on.”

“That’s why when I see your performance dropping significantly, I start to worry.”  
At mention of this fact, Momota bowed his head and refused to make eye contact. It was a mix of incredible shame and embarrassment, especially with the expectations he had just been told about.  
“I’m sorry, Mr Kirigiri.”   
He knew it sounded pathetic, but it was all he could muster in the moment.  
“No, Momota. I don’t want you to be sorry. I just want you to be better. I know you can be.”  
Momota felt incredibly low at this point. He felt he had let everyone down, everyone had put their trust in him, and he had squandered that trust. He was meant to be the one to help the others out of their problems, motivate them when they were low, but now he was the disappointment.  
“I might as well just get it over with.” Kirigiri took a deep sigh before he continued.  
“If you want to continue to work here, You need to leave the band.”

Momota’s first instinct was to try and defend himself. He said the first thing that came into his head without thinking.  
“How do you know about the band? I don’t remember saying anything.”  
Kirigiri chuckled at these words, and then replied unexpectedly.  
“I have ways of knowing things, Momota. I know all about your shows. You could say that I’m a fan, of sorts!”  
A million thoughts raced through Momota’s mind. Was he at a show? How long has he known? Was he really a fan? Instead of asking, he stayed silent.  
“Despite your talent, you can’t carry on with this lifestyle. I can tell it’s affecting everything else in your life. And if that includes work, I’m afraid I can’t let you work here while you are in the band.”  
Kirigiri’s voice almost had a somber tone to it, as he shattered Momota’s heart.

He knew it was coming. It even said it in the letter he received. But it didn’t make it sting any less. The idea of abandoning something he had come to love, abandoning his friends after coming so far hurt him inside. As these thoughts of sadness and anger raced through his head, a retort formed in his head. This could be his one chance to make everything go his way. Without second thought, Momota blurted out his response.  
“I can’t leave! I’m under a contract!”  
Momota thought it sounded confident, but instead it came out small and weak. Despite him thinking he had made a good point, it was shot down instantly.  
“The Japanese government doesn’t care for any contract. We can break it if we need to.” Kirigiri shot back in a deadpan voice.  
This deflated Momota even further. He felt pathetic, as his one attempt to resist failed spectacularly. From that point on, everything that was said turned into a blur of negativity for Momota, as he sunk further into despair.

“This will be for your greater good, Momota. Trust me, you won’t regret this.”  
This drove Momota too far. He didn’t want to listen to the man speak anymore, so he snapped, all of the repressed anger spilling over.  
“The greater good? Abandon my dream for the greater good? Abandon my friends for the greater good?”  
As the adrenaline faded from inside of him, Momota realised what he had said. He had just shouted at his boss, and this was the end of his entire career. Panic sunk in quickly. Before an apology could be given, Kirigiri spoke. Momota expected the full wrath of his boss, but instead was met by a soft voice.

“I understand Momota, I know it isn’t easy to do something like this. I can sympathise with you. But it must be done if you want a future here.”  
Surprisingly, Kirigiri gave Momota a kind, understanding smile. Momota wanted this to comfort him, but he couldn’t get past what he had to do.   
“I believe in you, Momota. I know you will go far.”  
He quietly excused himself from Kirigiri’s office.

He sat in silence in his car, thinking. Thinking about his future. Thinking about his dreams. Thinking about his friends. Thinking about the looks on their faces when he tells them. When he tells them he is abandoning them. He couldn’t stomach the thoughts. He drove back home, and ended up thinking all night long.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to take this last opportunity to write something fluffy, because everything is going to get worse from this point on for a bit lol
> 
> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!!


	24. Northern Downpour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momota brings his news, and possibly, the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m going to try to start writing more often for a bit, so (maybe) expect chapters a bit more often than they have been recently!
> 
> Please enjoy this chapter!

The group spent about a week in total away from the band. The break was much needed in many ways, and deserved. With all the live shows, as well as recently recording an EP, the needed the time off. During this time off, they all stayed in contact with each other, using the band group chat. They would talk most days, chatting about everyday life, school, and Ouma occasionally sharing memes. They all spent time in the chat, everyone except for Momota. Ouma had noticed this absence, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t slightly worried. He could tell something was wrong, just from Momota’s silence. He tried to ask the others if they had noticed anything weird with Momota, or if they had realised the lack of his presence.

Ouma: yo anyone else noticed our spaceman has gone??

Saihara: You mean Momota?

Ouma: who else would I call spaceman? I thought you were the smart one lol

Amami: Now that you mention it...

Kiibo: Yeah where is Momota?

There was a moment of pensive silence in the online chat, before typing begun again.

Saihara: He’s probably just busy working, I wouldn’t worry.

Ouma: always calm and rational, arent you my beloved? :3

The conversation carried on from that point, none of them thinking much about the absence. But Ouma couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. The silence scared him, as he knew it meant bad things were coming.

 

The day had been going fairly well. It was the day that the band would start working again, a week after their small hiatus had begun. They had convened in the usual place, Saihara and Ouma’s apartment, instruments set up, ready to practice, as usual. They waited for everyone to arrive, as usual. Everything was going as usual. And they all felt fine. Apart from Ouma, who sat on the edge of his seat, acting fine. In truth he was afraid, afraid of whatever Momota was going to say when he arrived. If he arrived. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but something told him that this perfect situation that they had built for themselves was all about to fall apart. His fear ate away ate him, as usual. He just stared out of the window in silence, watching as large grey clouds amassed overhead. 

“Are you ok, Ouma?”  
The sudden question caught the smaller boy off guard, and caused him to jump. He had spaced out, and wasn’t really listening to the conversation in the room. His fear was distracting him from his current situation.  
“Of course I’m ok! Why do you ask?” Ouma covered up his emotions once again. However, Saihara could tell something was up. He knew the boy too well to know exactly when he lied.  
“You seem distracted by something. Are you sure you’re alright?” Saihara questioned.  
“I’m as fine as ever! I’m on top of the world baby!” Ouma extravagantly stated. He jumped off of the sofa he sat on and spread his arms out wide, flaunting his feigned happiness.  
He found it easier to lie if he acted far too over the top. But it made the lie more obvious to Saihara.  
“Uhh, ok...” He doubtfully muttered. This time, he had given up trying to find the truth.

It felt like an eternity before Momota arrived. No one else felt like it took too long for him to arrive, but every minute felt like an hour to Ouma. In the time they spent waiting, Amami had already begun writing new lyrics. He sat, scribbling away at a scrap of paper, occasionally scribbling out and re-writing certain parts. Ouma peered over his shoulder, contributing every now and again with clever wordplay or interesting ideas. They had almost written an entire new song before Momota finally arrived at the apartment.

The door slowly pushed open, and the four boys turned to look at the new arrival.  
“Oh, hey Momota!”   
The  
Saihara was excited to see his friend after a week of relative silence from the other boy. As he turned to look at him, he noticed something about his appearance. Momota wore heavy bags underneath his eyes, and his purple hair that normally stood up instead fell flat over his face. He was slumped while standing up, and wore a somber look on his face. He was the image of tired and sad. This made Ouma’s fears worse, as it almost confirmed his suspicions that something was very wrong. Despite this, he tried remaining his usual jokey self up until it all went wrong.

“Nice to see you Momota! The emo look doesn’t really work on you, so leave the eyeliner to Saihara!”  
Ouma’s joke was met by a deep sigh from Momota, and a disapproving look from Saihara. Ouma could tell that he wasn’t alone in worrying anymore. Everyone knew that something was very wrong, just from Momota’s outward appearance, as well as his body language. This was all very unlike Momota, so the group just waited for him to start talking and tell them what had gone wrong. He made his way to the seats the other boys sat on, and sunk into his chair, letting out another exasperated sigh.

“I really don’t know how to put this.”  
You could cut through the air in the room with a knife, as the boys waited with baited breath for Momota’s words. There were only a few moments between words, but it felt like an eternity.  
“I don’t want to do this, but...” Momota’s head sunk into his hands. His voice shook as he carried on.  
“I can’t do this anymore. I just... I just can’t.”  
The room was forced into stunned silence with this announcement, and the emotion shared between the boys was confusion.

“What? What do you mean?”   
Amami was the only one who was able to speak through the mix of confusion and shock. Momota replied wearily, trying to hold back any strong emotions.  
“I mean that I can’t continue. I... I need to leave the band.”  
Tears rolled down Momota’s face as he announced this, and then landing on clenched fists. He tried his hardest to keep it together as his band fell apart.  
“But why? Why can’t you do it anymore?” Saihara pleaded, just wanting answers from his friend.  
“It’s... it’s a long story. But to keep it short, it’s taking too much out of my job. They’ll fire me if I... if I don’t quit the band.” Momota uttered through clenched teeth. The crushing silence returned as they all tried to process what had just been said.  
“I can’t give up my job, you guys know that.” He looked up to meet their eyes. “It’s just, I can’t bare to leave the band. It’s... it’s my dream to stay with you guys.”  
His head sunk back down, as if he had disappointed everyone around him.

“And there’s no way you can do both? Y-your job and the band, I mean.”   
Kiibo’s voice was small as he asked this question. It was met by another sigh from Momota.  
“No. I don’t think I can do both... it’s all too much to do, so I need to stop. I don’t have a choice... I don’t...”  
As Momota choked his way through his words, and silence fell once more, Saihara looked around at the others. He saw bowed heads, and somber expressions, apart from a blank look on Ouma’s face. He knew what that meant. He was trying to hide the pain he felt inside.

“Ha ha! Very funny Momota! Nice prank! Now you can stop lying, thats my job after all!”  
Ouma finally chimed in, breaking the quiet. He tried to sound happy and positive. He attempted denying the truth, as he couldn’t yet face it. He sank further into despair with every passing moment, as he felt his suspicions had finally been confirmed. He could feel his dream slipping out of his grasps with every passing moment.  
“It is a cruel prank, isn’t it Momota?” Ouma pleaded, nervous smile on his face. He was only met with silence.  
“Momota? Momota? Please, tell me you’re lying...”  
Momota’s head just sunk further into his hands as Ouma begged for a different truth. The nervous smile turned into an expression of fear.  
“Hey! Stop it! Stop it! Please, Momota!”  
His voice cracked while he pleaded for Momota to comfort him. Ouma got up and grabbed the other boy by his shoulders, lightly shaking him, as if holding on to him would change the truth.  
“Momota! Fucking hell Momota, STOP LYING!”  
He didn’t realise it at the time, but tears streamed down Ouma’s face as he shouted at the taller boy. The other three looked on, saddened by the display of desperation and despair. 

“Do you think I want this? Do you think I want to abandon this dream either?”   
Momota’s voice was deep, and soaked in anger and sadness. Ouma gripped tightly onto him, looking down as his voice shook through him. He could feel the other boy shake with anger.  
“M-m-Momota?”   
Ouma’s voice was small and fearful, as he wore his emotions on his sleeve for once.  
“No. I want this as much as you, Ouma.” Momota grumbled lowly, scaring everyone else in the room.  
“This isn’t my fault, THIS ISN’T MY FUCKING FAULT!”   
As Momota roared this, he rose out of his seat with force. His hands pushed forwards, trying to move Ouma away from him. This caused the smaller boy to let go, and hit the ground with considerable force and a pathetic whimper.

Once Momota had come down from his anger, he looked around him. He stood tall above a small scared boy. A friend who he had hurt. His anger had clouded his common sense, and resulted in him doing something terrible.   
“Oh, god. Oh god what have I done...” Momota quietly uttered.  
This entire situation had screwed him over emotionally, and he had let it all out in the wrong way. He couldn’t meet the fearful eyes of the boy below him, and shame and regret crept into him. Shocked eyes bore into him, and nobody knew what to say. Instead of speaking, he quickly turned away from his friends. He quickly turned to leave, running from the friends he had disappointed. The friends he had hurt in many ways.

“Momota, wait!”   
Saihara reached out to the running boy, as he got up to follow him. He needed Momota to stop, things couldn’t end like this. He made his way across his apartment, trailing after the other boy, but by the the time he reached the door, Momota was already in his car, driving away from the building. Saihara stood for a few moments, watching his friend drive away beneath the depressingly fitting sky. His stomach sank further as he saw the car turn a corner.

The threatening grey clouds that hung above his head finally decided to release a storm. As Saihara stood, rain began to pour from the dark skies. He was soaked within a matter of moments, the rain covering him from head to toe. It was a relentless downpour that came on far too quickly, quicker than anyone could’ve thought. The symbolism wasn’t lost on Saihara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look! Another stupid p!atd reference! I should probably start counting how many of these references I’m making lol
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!!


	25. Fall Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A broken band ponder what they should do next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to have this out a lot quicker than I ended up doing, sorry!  
> I recently realised that this has got almost 3000 hits and 150 kudos! I am blown away by these numbers, and it makes me so happy to see that people enjoy my writing, through the comments and kudos. Thank you all so much!!!  
> I really hope that you enjoy this chapter!

Collapsed in the doorway, leaning against the frame was where Saihara stayed for what felt like an eternity. The rain fell harshly upon him, but he couldn’t find the will to care. He couldn’t find the will to even stand up after everything that had just happened. So he just sat, drained of any motivation or energy. He didn’t know what to do. None of them did. But what could they do? It all seemed hopeless. A low point that could spell the end of their pathetically short career. These thoughts swirled through Saihara’s head, and carried on as he eventually decided to move out of the unending torrent of rain.

Ouma was only just figuring out what had happened. He, as well as the others, could hardly comprehend what had just happened because of how quickly it all came and went. But one moment he was standing, and the next moment he was hitting the ground and Momota was running. It wasn’t that hitting the ground hurt him that much, it just took him by surprise. He sat in silent shock for a few moments while everything happened around him, until he finally came back into reality.

“Ouma! A-are you alright?”  
Kiibo rushed to Ouma’s side as soon as Saihara left in pursuit of Momota. His tone was full of concern for his friend, as he helped him up off the ground.  
“Yeah, I... I’m fine.” Ouma stuttered, giving a silent thanks to the worried boy.  
If he was being honest, he wasn’t bothered about being hurt, he was concerned about his band.  
“What...what just happened?”   
This was only thing Ouma could think to say at that moment, as he could hardly comprehend how quickly everything fell apart. It all took place in a few minutes, and Ouma’s mind was only just catching up.  
“I think what just happened was the start of our biggest problem yet.”   
Amami stated calmly, the only one out of everyone in the band with a level head in that moment in time.  
“Huh. That’s, um, that’s not good, is it?”  
Ouma questioned, not really thinking straight, as the sound of the pouring rain carried on outside.

Nobody questioned Saihara’s saturation when he re-entered the apartment and dropped into a seat. He would normally wait to dry off before sitting down, to not ruin the sofa, but he really didn’t care right then. It had felt like he had lost everything. They all felt that way, and a depressive silence hung above their heads. Droplets of rain ran down Saihara’s slick hair, rolling down the slope and landing somewhere below.   
“You’re wet.” Ouma stated obviously, just looking to break the painful quiet. He would’ve thought Saihara looked pretty hot while soaked, but he was busy thinking about other things.  
“Yeah. I guess I am.” Saihara sounded defeated.   
And with that, the silence between them returned like a unwanted intruder. The only thing to be heard was the rain violently pouring itself onto the world around them.

“So what do we do now?” Amami asked the silence.  
The question was going to come eventually, but nobody had a good answer. It felt like there was no answer to what had happened. No way to get around this. There was nothing they could do that would properly satisfy the loss they had just experienced.  
“I don’t know.”   
Ouma knew it was redundant to say that out loud, but he did it anyway. No one knew what could be done. He clenched his fists as the truth sank in.  
“I really don’t know.”

Choked sobs escaped from the throat of the smaller boy. His entire frame shook with the loud, ugly sobs that filled the entire room. He hid his scrunched up face from view by shamefully bowing his head, not wanting the others to see all of him while he was vulnerable. Every pained cry was like a knife in Saihara’s heart, as he could tell the one he loved was seriously hurt. He knew it wouldn’t work, but he needed to comfort the boy. He moved to sit next to his shaking figure.  
“Ouma, are you-“ He couldn’t get any further before being cut off.  
“No! No I’m not alright! I’m not okay!” Ouma’s voice was rough and pained, his words punctuated with sobs.  
“I knew it. I knew it was all too good to be true.” Ouma continued.  
Saihara rubbed his still damp hand along Ouma’s back, trying to calm him.  
“It always goes like this. Everything I try fails. Why? Why does this always happen?”  
As he rambled, he leaned closer into Saihara, who was now full on hugging the smaller boy, calmly shushing him between violent sobs, running his hand through purple hair.

They all knew that technically, there was a simple solution. They could just get a new drummer to replace Momota. It’d solve everything, but it wouldn’t be right. They couldn’t carry on and feel alright with doing so without Momota begins the drum kit. They needed him back, but didn’t know how to do it.

Amami sighed deeply. As everyone else experienced despair, he thought about what their next step should be. Being the logical and thoughtful one, he knew what they had to do.  
“We need to tell Adachi.” He stated, quite bluntly.  
“Huh?” Saihara either didn’t catch what he said, but more likely didn’t want to acknowledge the truth.  
“We need to tell him. He won’t like it, but he’s gotta know. The band does ‘kind of’ belong to him, after all...”  
Amami’s truthful words caused the mood to drop even further, as the situation just got worse and worse.  
“Yeah, I guess... it does really belong to him.” Ouma muttered, tone full of misery.

 

“You boys are selling damn well! Your EP is doing some serious numbers.”  
This was the first thing the short man said to the group once they had all sat down in his office. He had failed to read the air and the despondent expressions decorating faces. On the other hand, Adachi’s grin was as sharp as ever, just like his suit.  
“That’s, uhh, that’s great to hear, Adachi. But we need to tell you something.”  
Adachi’s eyebrow rose quizzically, and he leaned back into his chair as if to say ‘go on then’. His heart beat against his chest as he tried to get the bad news out, nerves crushing him.  
“Well, we lost our drummer.”   
The well dressed man behind the desk wore a blank, unconcerned expression upon hearing these words. He wasnt phased by this apparently cataclysmic news.  
“Oh, so that’s why you’re short one!” He started, with a slight chuckle. “So? Get a new one.” His reply was very businesslike, short and cold.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m afraid we can’t do that... it just wouldn’t be right.” Saihara chimed in.  
With this, Adachi became visibly annoyed.  
“Well what do you plan on doing then? What do you suppose we do then?”  
His venomous inflection caused Saihara to flinch, and retreat further into his chair. He decided not to speak for the rest of the meeting.  
“We really don’t know, sir, but we thought you would have an idea.”  
Amami’s words were small and respectful, as to not annoy the now volatile man before them.

“Oh, so you expect me to do all of the hard work? All down to little old me to solve all your issues, huh?”  
Adachi rose from his seat as he shouted this, attempting to tower over the group despite being shorter than all of them. He sunk back into his chair, and spun the large black office chair to face away from the band.  
“If you’re gonna refuse to get a new guy, you gotta find a way to get the other guy back.”   
The way he didn’t even to refer to Momota by name told the boys that Adachi probably didn’t care to much about them as a band. It came across like he was more bothered about financial gain.  
“I mean, why did he leave anyway? Now that I think about it, I could probably pull him back with the contract...”

The mention of contracts and money made Ouma’s stomach churn. It made him sick to see that when it came down to it, everyone was in it for the money. Not for the love of music. He wanted to leave, he wanted it to all go back to normal, he wanted to be ignorant to the truth. An urge to be his usual cocky and over the top self tried to rise up inside of him. A thousand witty retorts circled his mind, but he felt completely drained of energy, and he just really wanted to sleep.

“He left because of work, they forced him to leave, bu-“   
Amami’s explanation was cut short by a now almost feverish Adachi.  
“Oh, well that’s fine then! I can just pull him back in! Tell his work they have no legal right to take him outta my contract!”  
Amami sunk further into his seat, knowing that he had to burst this bubble and anger their manager even more.  
“He, uh, he works for the space agency. I don’t think the government will care too much for your contract...”

They couldn’t see the expression on the mans face, as he was turned away from the group. However, it was obvious by the eerie silence that filled the office that Adachi was not pleased with what had just been said to him. This persisted for far too long, before an exasperated sigh and a few words came from the other side of the chair. Words with an incredible passive aggressive energy behind them.  
“Get him back as soon as possible, or I’ll get you a new drummer. I don’t care how just do it. Now get out.”

 

The hour was late, far too late at that. Actually, it’d be more apt to say it was incredibly early in the morning, not late at night. Saihara was used to being up at these ludicrous times, but this time a lot of things played on his worn out mind. He lay staring at his phone, finger hovering over the send text button. He clenched his eyes shut and exhaled, before sending the message.

Saihara: Momota, please reply. We need to talk.

Saihara was met with no reply, even after a while. He knew that it was a stupid time to expect someone to be up on their phone, but he doubted that Momota could sleep either. 

Saihara: Please, it can’t end like this Momota. Please talk to me.

As he tried to get through to his friend, he tried thinking how he could go about getting him back. It seemed impossible, it seemed like a task they couldn’t overcome. But they had to, it was their destiny to rule over the world with music. As Saihara thought this, he realised how much Ouma had affected him.

Saihara: Momota, please give us one last chance.

That triggered something in Saihara. He didn’t realise what he had said, but upon rereading the text he knew what he had to do. He had to show Momota that he couldn’t leave, he had to prove that he needed to stay in the band. And he knew exactly how he could do that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!


	26. Breadcrumb Trail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The preparations are made, and the band prepare to prove themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took me longer to get round to writing than I wanted, and I’m sorry for the wait! I wanted to have this out several days ago, but I guess other things came up.  
> I just realised that 26 is a pretty big number! Thank you all for sticking around this long and reading my stuff!  
> Please enjoy this next chapter!!

Saihara put the phone down, butterflies still fluttering round his stomach. He had put everything into this plan, so it had to work. If not, they would have little chance of bringing their friend back. A deep, exasperated sigh came out as he finished the phone call with Adachi. He was the most important part of this scheme, Saihara had planned out, but it still relied on them, as well as blind luck. Maybe it was a foolish idea that wouldn’t work. After all, this was real life, not some idealist fiction were everything goes perfectly. He could only hope this would all go how he needed it to go. 

Ouma lay, eyes wide, trying to trick his brain into slipping into sleep. He just wanted an escape from the crushing truth that surrounded him. It always went like this for him. Anything he loved in his life was instantly shot down, his family, his friendships, and now his dream. All except for Saihara. The one he trusted the most, the only thing that had never gone wrong for him. But when the truth is too hard to face, that’s when you lie, right?

“Ouma? Ouma are you.. are you ok?”  
Saihara’s meek voice came through a slight crack in Ouma’s door.  
Without words, Saihara entered further into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed, not far from the collapsed mass of limbs that was Ouma. He could feel the exhausted emptiness that radiated off of the smaller boy.  
“I’m sorry.”   
It was the only thing he could think to say to comfort the boy. There was nothing to apologise for, no one to blame for their situation, but they felt like the only words that he could utter.  
“No, my beloved. I’m sorry.”   
Ouma’s voice was croaky and vulnerable, signs that he wasn’t lying.   
“I’m a curse, Saihara. I ruin everything I get involved in, don’t I?”  
His self deprecating words were followed by a somber chuckle, which threatened to turn into a sob. Saihara tried to reassure him, but the torrent of self hatred only continued.

“My parents left because of me, every friend I’ve ever had was driven away, and now... and now...”  
Saihara winced as Ouma mentioned these things. It made him remember the small, timid boy, alone with no one around him he knew all those years ago. It made him remember the sad, orphaned boy who just wanted someone to talk to. He also remembered the bright small and warm laugh of that same boy, that same boy who just wanted to be loved.  
“No, Ouma. That’s wrong.”

With these words, tearful eyes met Saihara’s caring gaze.  
“I’m still here. You haven’t driven me away, and you never will.”  
That was it, that was the Saihara Ouma loved and trusted. The one that would never leave him.  
“Ouma, I can promise you that you have never ruined anything. You are definitely not a curse. Actually, you’re the complete opposite. You have been a blessing in my life since the day I met you.”  
Tears rolled down to the cheeks of the purple haired boy, as he welled up with emotion. He wanted to say something, but his heart raced so fast that he was unable.

“Ouma, we can fix this. I’ve been up all night planning everything out, and now I need your help. I need everyone’s help if this is going to work.”  
Ouma’s eyes lit up when Saihara mentioned his plan. He trusted Saihara, if there was one person who could fix everything that had gone wrong, it was him.   
“I’m in.” The smaller boy, to the shock of Saihara, had already fully agreed to go along with whatever he had in mind.  
“I haven’t even explained it yet.” Saihara smirked bewilderedly.  
“Well I already know that it’s a foolproof plan with no chance of failure! Why? Because the genius Saihara Shuich himself conceived it, that’s why!”  
Ouma’s playful positivity had returned, warming Saihara’s heart. It only got warmer as he listed of the details of his plan.

“Soda. I need your help.”  
Another phone call, but this time Ouma was on the line.  
“Oh hey Ouma. How are you doin’ bro?” Soda chirpily said down the phone, oblivious to the previous statement.  
“I’m going to keep this quick, Soda, I don’t have much time.”  
Ouma’s voice was all business, no bullshit for once.  
“Woah, okay man! Tell me, what do ya need?” Soda still kept his positive attitude up.  
“You can play drums, right?”  
“Of course I can!”  
“And are you free tomorrow?”  
“Uhhhhh, let me check real quick...”  
A couple moments of impatient silence went by, until Soda made his return.  
“Yep! I’m as free as a bird baby! Ha ha!”  
Ouma didn’t seem to be impressed by this ‘joke’.  
“Ooooookay, then. What do you need me for anyway?” Soda responded.  
“You’ll see when you get there, I’ll text you an address and a time. Be there and be ready to go.”  
Ouma quickly stated, before promptly hanging up the phone. As much as he liked that guy, there was only so much he could tolerate of him.

 

“Remind me again, How is all this going to bring Momota back?”   
The four remaining members of the band stood on the floor of a surprisingly large, but currently empty venue, with their instruments all set up on stage. They had just finished setting up their stage, which was now decorated with a backdrop, the words “KILLING HARMONY” in sleek lettering. At the centre of it all, Momota’s drum kit, set up perfectly. Amami’s question echoed in the large, empty room.  
“Well, we think this’ll work for several reasons.” Ouma begun, taking the leader role as usual, despite it all being Saihara’s idea.  
“We will play this concert tomorrow night, our biggest yet, by far. We knew for a fact that we will fill this whole place out, Adachi did the calculations. And as we predicted, we have fully sold out!”  
Ouma casually dropped this fact in front of Kiibo and Amami, who had yet to hear this.

“Wait, what? W-w-we’ve sold out t-this place? Oh j-jeez.”   
Kiibo quietly stuttered, obviously because of the newly developed anxiety over this concert.  
“Yep! Fully sold old! And think about it, Momota will have that same reaction upon realising how many people will be here. He’ll then see how big this all is, and then Saihara will give an emotional speech, blah blah blah, and then BAM! We’ve got our drummer back!”  
Ouma delivered this speech with his trademark confidence, but that didn’t fully cover up the fact that this plan had several holes in it, and relied heavily upon a lot of uncontrollable things. But they knew it was all they had. They were all willing to go through with this.

“And if he doesn’t show up?”   
Amami questioned once again.  
“Who, Momota? Heh, you underestimate Saihara, Amami! If there is anyone who could ever talk Momota into showing up at some place he’s never been for a mysterious reason, its everyone’s favourite emo!”  
Despite the comment at the end, Saihara’s heart was warmed by the compliment paid to him. He could tell that Ouma trusted him greatly, and that felt good. He felt good to be trusted by the one he loved. 

“So all it took was a simple phone to everyone’s favourite CEO and we have an entire show set up?”  
Amami, once again, had the most questions about this scheme.  
“Pretty much. It turned out that he had a similar plan as me, but not for the same reason. He thinks this will be a great way to capitalise off of our EP.”  
That obvious truth that Saihara delivered was met with a collective eye roll from the boys.  
“He actually owns this place, that’s how we’ve been able to have this place set up in a matter of hours. And as for tickets, I guess we have a damn good marketing team, or maybe we are just that big...”  
The four of them stood, pondering, hoping everything would work out. This was to be a turning point, a defining moment in there long career as international superstars.

 

The sound of a pen scribbling down words, quickly followed by paper being put to one side. This is what could repeatedly be heard in the dark apartment of Momota, who had found little joy in his paperwork at such a late hour. His boss was pleased to hear about his departure from the band. He had given Momota all of the “right choice” and “greater good” speeches all over again, and now Momota just felt empty. Yes, he now had a bright future ahead of him, but he had lost his closest friends, and gained a whole lot of guilt. As his pen ran across the paper, his phone periodically lit up.

He couldn’t bring himself to turn of the notifications for Saihara. He would get a text or voicemail every few minutes, begging for a chance to talk, but he forced himself to ignore them. As his phone lit up one more time, he picked it up to see what had been said this time.  
“Goddamnit, Saihara. Just give up, please...” He hopelessly uttered while scrolling through the many messages.  
“Please, there’s no way.”  
He decided to listen to the most recent voicemail, for peace of mind. Hitting play, Saihara’s tired voice started to fill the empty room.

“Momota, it’s me, uhhh, Saihara.”  
Momota couldn’t help but laugh at the other boy’s cluelessness at times. It just reminded him of why he loved them all so much. Immediately, he quietened and listened closely.

“I know you probably aren’t going to hear this, and I’m most likely talking to a brick wall for the hundredth time, but it’s worth a shot, I guess. I’ve told you if can’t end like this, and I’ve asked countless times to try to talk with you. Obviously, my words alone aren’t enough to get you to come back, so I suggest you let our actions speak instead.”

This peaked Momota’s attention, this mention of actions.

“We have something prepared, something we all think will be enough to show you why you need to find some way to stick with us. This is our best chance Momota, and all we need is for you to show up. Tomorrow, please come to the location I’ve texted to you, at the time I’ve specified. I know you don’t have work tomorrow, and you don’t need to worry about paying. Just show up and watch. Please. Just give us this last chance. Please Momota, I can promise you that you will not regret this.”

The message came to an end, and Saihara’s muffled voice ceased to come from the phone. Momota had a pretty good idea of what Saihara’s plan was, but he knew that he should go. It was the right thing to do, hoping that this one last chance could help solve every problem that they face.

He wanted this to work. He wanted to be convinced. He needed to continue down the path of Killing Harmony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yknow I’m actually really quite happy with this chapter, I think I did a decent job   
> I’m sorry if this one seems a bit filler-ish, it’s pretty much setting up for the big moment in the next chapter  
> I kinda feel bad for not writing that much Kiibo stuff in this recently, I love him, but I’ve jusg not had too many ideas for him, I’ll try to give him more to do lol
> 
> Thank you for reading and for your support!!!


	27. Stay With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You don’t need to run, stay with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy this chapter!! Thank you all for the support!

Momota normally was usually rather well dressed. He had a great sense of fashion about him, and whatever he wore would be just like him, likeable and casual. Whether it was his well known purple jacket he always wore wrong, or something more plain, he was recognisable in what he wore. That night, however, things were different. He knew it was strange, wearing clothes that reflected his hopeless mood, but the dark hoodie and tracksuit bottoms just felt so right. Especially since he wanted to hide himself in the darkness of a concert. Out of guilt, shame and disappointment in himself. He wanted to disappear, so he would try his hardest to do so.

“This better work, Saihara. Whatever plan   
you have, it better work, goddamnit.”  
The smallest amount of rain dripped out of the evening sky, making the pavements he walked down slick and shiny. He hid his head in his hood as people passed by him. He came to a stop as soon as the directions told him to. Momota looked up from his phone to see where Saihara had led him, and he knew the place immediately. He could also tell what was happening from the people surrounding the area, and the general atmosphere. His only thought was ‘why the hell are the putting on a concert?’.

He could only hope that this would work. 

Passing through the doors of the venue, and going into the main hall, the first thing he was met with was a wall of people.   
“Huh...” Momota muttered. “Have they not opened the doors yet? Strange...”  
As time passed on, though, it dawned on him that the doors had very much been opened, and that he was at the back of a gargantuan crowd. When this realisation dawned upon him, he felt speechless.   
“Oh man, oh... Is this really, is this really all for us?”  
Momota found himself frozen for the longest time, as it hit him in waves. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people cared for his work. It had only been a couple of months, and they already had this following? Could he really abandon this? These questions relentlessly played on Momota’s mind, up until the lights went out, and the crowd erupted.

 

“Do you think he’s out there?”  
Ouma peered out from backstage, and looked upon the intimidatingly large mass of people in the crowd. It really was impossible to distinguish anyone from the vast sea of people. As he looked out onto the masses, the others wandered impatiently around the small space. Kiibo perfected his guitars tuning, and Soda twirled a drumstick round his fingers. Amami looked worried, but Saihara’s body language said the opposite.  
“He should be. I hope he is. I really hope...”   
For once, Amami had a hint of uncertainty in his usually calm voice. The chatter of the audience ate away at them. It hadn’t really dawned on them during the planning stages that they would actually have to play the concert in front of the massive crowd.  
“He’s there. I’m sure of it.”   
All eyes turned to Saihara, who stood tall. He grasped his guitar and had no signs of nerves or worry about him.  
“I know Momota. He’ll have given us this last chance. Hell, he’d probably give us every chance in the world to bring him back.”   
Saihara’s confident voice had bought much needed hope into the others in the band. The hope that they needed to bring Momota back into their band.

“I guess we better get ready, guys.”  
Saihara took a glance at his watch to see that the amount minutes before the plan was put into action was slowly decreasing. As tensions rose, he took a glance at Ouma, who had decided it was time to deliver a quick ‘speech’.  
“Alright gang, it’s time to execute plan ‘get Momota back from his painful office job!’. I’m assuming you all remember what’s going to happen!”  
His question was met with confirmation from everyone around him.  
“Ok then! And remember, we need to put on the greatest show ever! Everything is resting on this performance. No pressure! Oh, and thank you Soda, for being ready to temporarily fill in for Momota.”  
As this was said, Soda raised a thumb up, but then returned to nervously twirling his stick.  
Ouma wore a large grin on his face as he finished talking, but Saihara was not convinced of Ouma’s happiness. When the others had returned to doing nothing in preparation, he began to speak to the smaller boy.

“Are you alright?” Saihara questioned.  
“Yeah, my beloved, of course I’m fine! I’m better, actually. I’m great! I could run a marathon! I coul-“  
“Ouma, you’re rambling. I can tell you’re nervous. Are you sure you can do this.”  
He put a hand on Ouma’s shoulder and looked deep into those purple eyes, attempting to dig up the truth. Ouma sighed deeply when he realised he was being scrutinised.  
“Yeah. Yeah, of course I’m nervous.”  
The truth was muttered almost ashamedly.   
“But I’m fine! I can do this, Saihara. We need to do this.”  
Saihara nodded his head in agreement before letting go of Ouma’s shoulder. He turned away to join the others before the show would begin. Not long now, not long until it was all or nothing.

 

Despite being at the back of the crowd, Momota could still see everything that was going on up on the stage. He slowly tried to make his way towards the front of the crowd as the show started in an attempt to be closer to his friends. His distance though didn’t actually matter. As the band came on to thunderous applause and begun the show, he could feel their energy and power all the way from the back of the room. From the first chord from Saihara’s guitar, Momota was put in the place that all other audience members had been put in. A place of pure awe and wonder over the magic of this band.  
“Damn it...” Momota’s low voice was completely drowned out by the sounds of the band ahead of him.  
“It’s working.”

“How are we tonight?”  
Ouma’s rhetorical question to the masses was received well, and the response was an insane amount of cheering, applause, and various other forms of approval.  
“I said, how are y’all doing?”  
To the audience, it appeared that he was just teasing them to inflate his ego, but he was actually using it to their advantage. His eyes would skim across the lit up sea of faces, in an attempt to see his friend, but to no avail.  
“Well, it’s certainly good to see your alive out there. This is the biggest show we’ve played yet, and it’s all because of your support...”  
He carried on speaking for a bit, buying some time for the others to spot Momota.  
“This is all very important. To us. And from what we’ve seen to you guys as well. Don’t forget that.”  
They were Ouma’s last words, before going into the next song of the night. He hoped Momota had realised what he had said.

‘Important.’  
That was the only thing that Momota could think of. He spent the duration of the next few songs dwelling on those words. Despite being jerked around by his fellow concert goers, he just stood as still as poss in thought. This all was very important, wasn’t it? He needed to be a part of this. For him. For everyone around him. For his friends.

The song came to a succesful end, the crowd loving everyone note played from up on the stage. As the music died down, the members of the band took a moment, sitting down on amps or leaning on the side of the scaffolding. All except Saihara, who shuffled towards the microphone. Despite his confidence earlier, he felt nervous, afraid of the plan all falling apart.  
“So I guess, um, I guess it’s my turn to speak, huh?”  
Stuttering slightly, Saihara took his place in front of the mic stand. Resting his hands on his guitar, he peered our into the long strech of people.  
“Like Ouma said earlier, this is all very... all very important.”  
He paused to think.  
“Important for one reason. For one person actually.”  
The silence that fell upon the room was rife with confusion, but also concern. The crowd, they were intrigued, and wanted to know more.  
“I know you’re out there, I’ve not seen you, but I know your there. Can you see it? Can you see it yet?”  
He posed this question to Momota, silently hoping it didn’t fall on deaf ears.  
“I know it’ll be hard, but we need you to stay. Please. Stay with me. Stay with us.”

The words hit him. Hard. He could feel the desperation and emotion in his friends voice. The need for him to return, a need for him to make things right. At that moment in time, almost all inner conflict within Momota had gone, and he knew what he had to do. As he reached up to remove his grey hood, he knew he wags making the right choice. He raised his head high and stood tall, trying to make himself known to those on stage.

Leaning on the side of an amp, Ouma continued to scan the people in their audience. He twirled his hair in his fingers, as the nerves are away at him more and more. Saihara delivered his ‘inspiring’ speech in front of him, and his hope floated further and further away. The hope was almost completely extinguished, until something started to stick out towards the back of the room. Ouma wasn’t sure, but he thought he could recognise a certain head of dark purple hair in the audience, slowly making its way to the front. Ouma quickly moved to the main microphone, moving Saihara out of the spotlight.

“Momota? Momota is that you?”  
The confusion of the audience just grew with every word said, but they all went along with it. It was probably like some big, dramatic show to them all.  
“Hey everyone, make room for that guy, yeah, let him to the front!”  
The sea of people parted slightly for Momota to make his way up to the front. Once he made it, he looked up at Saihara, who now stood in the speaking position.  
“Momota. Please, come back? Join us again?”  
The eye contact that was made between the two friends was silent, but spoke a thousand words between to two of them. Momota could see all of the sadness, the need for him to return. Saihara could see desperation, and also a need to come back.  
Momota only slightly nodded his head, before making his way to his fellow bandmates.

When Momota bought himself up onto the stage, the first thing that happened was him bringing Saihara into a tight embrace. The mass of people around them started cheering upon this hug. It was obvious that the people loved a good reunion.  
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry any of this happened.”  
This was the first thing that Momota said after letting go. Saihara immediately went to comfort him.  
“No, Momota. This wasn’t on you. Thanks, for deciding to come back to us.”  
A warm smile was given to Momota, before Ouma took the microphone back.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our legendary drummer, Momota Kaito!”  
As the world erupted around him, Momota felt like for once, everything was in the right place. He felt at home, with the right people surrounding him. He knew he needed to stay. This was now his life, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

The show continued deep into the hours of the night, the five of them playing their hearts out. Doing exactly what they loved doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And like that, the boys are together again!!  
> Thank you all so much for reading!  
> (oh yeah this is going up around Saihara’s birthday, so happy birthday to everyone’s favourite detective boy!!)


	28. The Hype

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Early morning is never a good time to be awake, but not for a certain pair of band members.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy this chapter!!

Tick. Tick. Tick.  
The continuous clicking of the clock bore into Ouma. It was another usual late night (morning, more accurately), but this time with some purpose. The rhythmic ticking of the clock was complimented by a similar repeated clicking from a mouse. Accompanied by an occasional exasperated sigh, these were the only sounds that happened for hours on end, and Ouma was beginning to get sick of it. But he knew that if he kept going, it’d show up eventually. Hopefully he would be rewarded soon.

Sometimes, Ouma wished he didn’t have to indulge in basic human needs. He wanted to just stay completely still, fixated on what was before him instead of having to bother with drinking and eating. But alas, he still had to satisfy these needs. The grumbling pain in his stomach and the dryness of his throat weren’t pleased to be stuck in front of a glowing screen. For the first time in a few hours, Ouma got up from his comfortable rest to quickly refill, before resuming his position surveying the many websites he had open.

Another sleepless night for Saihara. What was new? It was normal at this point, and he felt like he experienced it way to often. Normally, nothing in particular would stop him from slipping into a sleeping state, but now the sounds of someone clattering around the kitchen kept him conscious. The flicking of a light switch, running taps, opening fridges...  
The constant noise Ouma was creating made Saihara want to investigate. He needed to see if he was just getting a late night snack, or dismantling their apartment.

Blindly stumbling out of his room, he made his way through the darkness towards the light of the kitchen. Upon making it to the bright room, he heard the sudden ‘pop’ of the toaster. Ouma could obviously tell he was being watched, as he turned around to face the boy behind him on queue with the toaster finishing. Saihara wasn’t ready for the stunningly cute image that would meet him. An oversized shirt hung onto Ouma’s thin frame, making him seem smaller than usual. His hair was messy, but Saihara thought that gave him a sweet charm. He held a pop tart hanging from his mouth, probably because he couldn’t be bothered to get a plate. Strange, but yet again, charming. This whole scene made Saihara blush, as he couldn’t help but think about how adorable Ouma looked at this moment in time. He tried his hardest to supress it.

Ouma took the pop tart from his mouth into his hand, and picked up the now cool one from the toaster. After he had collected his healthy breakfast, he spoke to Saihara.  
“Oh hey! Come to see what I’m cooking up?”  
Saihara almost envied the other boys ability to appear energetic despite having no sleep.   
“What are you doing?” Saihara asked, still half sunken in his sleep.  
“What does it look like I’m doing, beloved? Have you never had an early morning snack before?”  
Saihara couldn’t will the energy to respond at this point.  
“Ouma, just... please go to sleep.”  
He begun to turn around and get back to his bed, until a chipper retort came from back in the kitchen. 

“Sorry, can’t!”  
Ouma then exited the room, brushing right past Saihara, before trying to slink away into his room. But he was stopped by a question from the tired boy.  
“Wait, what do you mean you can’t? What are you doing?”  
Saihara felt confused, he couldn’t tell if Ouma was up to something, or he was just really, really tired.  
“It’s not polite to try and pry into peoples private life like this, Saihara!” Ouma teased. “Buuuuuuuut I think I’ll tell you anyways! It kinda does involve you.”

Ouma entered into his room, leaving the other alone in the hallway, aimlessly standing. He was so tired that he was oblivious to the fact that he was meant to follow Ouma. After a few moments, a hand reached out and dragged Saihara into the room.  
“I’m waiting Saihara. Waiting to see what people think.”  
These cryptic words flew right over Saihara’s exhausted head.   
“Huh?”  
That was the only word he could muster in response.  
“I’m waiting to see what people think of the album! Duh!”

“Oh, yeah. That...”  
Saihara would be lying if he said he hadn’t forgotten about the band over the past couple days. In the few months since Momota successfully rejoined the band, they had been working hard on their debut album. The past few days had been a time of rest for all of them, right before they released their project to their now large fan base. The show that bought Momota back was a big reason for why they now had such a huge following. The size of the show had gotten people talking, and even more interested. They only grew and grew from that point on, and anticipation for the album also grew alongside it.

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already? All that hard work, gone to waste! You know, that really hurts l, Saihara!”  
Despite loving everything about the smaller boy, Saihara didn’t want to deal with the overacting at this time.  
“No, no I’ve not forgotten... I’d, um... i’d never do that...”   
He cut himself off with a yawn before standing up off of Ouma’s bed and turning round, and starting to head back to his room.  
“Hey! Not so fast! Where are you going?”

“Ouma, please... please let me go to bed.”  
Saihara drearily pleaded with the mischievous boy, but seemingly to no avail.  
“Nope! You are staying right here and reading the first reviews we get!”  
Ouma went back to clicking away at the computer, and Saihara felt like he couldn’t refuse. Despite the need to sleep, he really wanted to know what the world thought of his work. Of their work. He took a seat next to Ouma on the bed, taking the entire bedsheet and wrapping it around himself for comfort.  
“Come on, Saihara, this’ll be fun! Just you wait until the 10’s start rolling in!”

The two sat in silence for what should’ve felt like ages, but instead felt entirely comfortable and natural, despite, of course, the anxiety gnawing away at them. Subtle, quiet clicks remained as the only noise in the entire room, only increasing the suspense and fear of what people would say.  
“Aaaaaany moment now... come on...”  
Ouma pleaded to nothing in particular for something to happen. The silence of the computer matched the lingering silence between the two of them.

“Hey, Ouma?”  
Saihara’s voice was quiet, timid almost, but mostly tired. His words caught the others attention.  
“Hm?”  
His response was quick and to the point, as he was focused on his screen.  
“I just wanted to say that whatever the people say, no matter what people think of our work, I’m proud of you. I’m proud of the work we’ve all put into this, but you’ve been the best leader anyone could ask for. And, I’m proud to call you my closest friend, Ouma.”  
This took Ouma’s attention away from the computer, as he looked up to Saihara. A thick red blush was invading his pale face, so red that Saihara could still see it in the relative darkness.  
“S-saihara...” Ouma awkwardly stumbled across his words, flattered by the praise from his friend.

Right as this sincere moment between them begun, what they had waited for occurred. One website had uploaded a review. The articles title just plainly read ‘Killing Harmony Review’. Ouma instantly jumped to get to the keyboard, mouse hovering over the vague title. He paused both of them holding their breath as a single click bought them onto the screen they had been waiting for.  
“Well, here goes nothing!”  
It was an optimistic statement, trying to prepare themselves for anything. The mouse then began to scroll down. The two pairs of eyes instantly begun reading through the text in front of them.

“Killing Harmony’s self titled debut impresses on every front, producing an ambitious and well refined sound that shows of their strengths.”

“The level of songwriting is incredible, and paired with the flawless performance makes this something special.”

“An instant classic.”

Saihara, now wide awake, muttered these various quotes from the first review in sheer disbelief of what was being said about their album. Even as the words left his mouth, he couldn’t really process them.

“No, no, it can’t be, right? This must just be a one off thing... let me check some others...” Ouma mumbled confusedly.  
By the time they had finished with the first, several others had appeared. One at a time, they skimmed the each review, only to see a massive wave of incredibly high praise from everyone. The only thing the both of them could do was stare in disbelief at each other, and then the screen, and back to each other.  
It was incomprehensible, the amount of praise that each review and article had given to them.

After a while of gazing in denial at the massively high praise they had been given from some official outlets, Ouma switched over to a several music forums that he had lined up. The sight that greeted the pair was nothing short of humbling.  
“Oh my god, look. Look! Literally everyone is talking about us...”  
A stuttering Ouma got these words out, almost speechless at the sight of every thread on the front page being a discussion of their music. He was in pure disbelief. Eventually, Saihara began to read out titles, just to make himself register what was going on.

“These guys are something different...”

“Best album of the year. No question!”

“Killing Harmony will go far. They will take over the world.”

Ouma could only laugh. His low chucking caught the attention of the boy beside him, who seemed slightly confused at this display of emotion. He was just so overwhelmed, the only way he could release these feelings was through a feeble laugh.

“I didn’t really realise until just now, but...” Ouma took a pause to think.  
“Saihara, I think we’ve made it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!  
> (my need to title chapters after songs has now extended to unreleased songs lol)


	29. (Nice Dream)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of the biggest step yet unfolds in a breakfast diner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about this taking a while to get out, I wanted to have this chapter posted and finished a lot earlier.
> 
> But now it’s here, I hope you enjoy!!

The night was deep and dark, it was an endless wait of sleepless consciousness until the sun would rise again. Or so it seemed, as Adachi just had his office blinds closed. The truth was that the sun hung high up in the pristine blue sky - the well dressed man just like liked the dark. It fit his personality, and perfectly complimented his strange aura.

But for once, that razor sharp smile didn’t decorate his pale face, and his white hair lacked that shine. His suit was still pristine, but inside any semblance of composure was slowly falling away. He quivered slightly as he held his phone up to his ear. It sometimes slipped his mind, but he knew there were much bigger fish than him. And he was currently facing down the biggest of them all. The phone chirped away down his ear.

“Why yes, of course. Of course I understand, sir!”  
If only every artist he had ever talked down to could see him now, for once he was the one being told what to do.  
“Yes, I know, but I don’t mean to waste your time, but...” A slight pause to think over his wording. “I think taking my guys with you would be a great idea.”

Now Adachi knew what it felt like, to have his success held in the grasps of someone who could easily crush it with no trouble. It shook him, and his heart could hardly take it, pounding against his rib cage. He stayed in that silence that stretched on for an eternity, awaiting the response that would eventually come.

And when it did, he let a pent up silent sigh of pure relief out. The tinny voice of those above him spoke the words he needed to hear.  
“Oh thank you sir! Don’t you worry, Killing Harmony will not be a let down! I can guarantee they will be the best damn support band this world has ever seen!”  
He layered on the fake enthusiasm and obedience to appease the robotic voice, finishing off with a small, breathy laugh, just to sell it. With a few more words, the phone was down, and the real, egotistical Adachi returned.

“Those damn kids better be thankful, this’ll be the greatest thing that’ll ever happen to them...”  
He muttered these words through clenched teeth, scrolling through text message contacts to reach a certain childish frontman. He smirked as he wrote out the first text he would send.

 

“And your point is?”

Ouma carelessly pushed food around his plate as he spoke these words. He wasn’t hungry, it was Saihara’s idea to visit a diner. Something about ‘eating something good for once’, he said. So off they went, just the two of them. Was it a date? If they weren’t so oblivious and reluctant to confess, it would very obviously be a date. As the low chatter of the diner continued, so did the pairs absurd conversation.

“My point is that yes, yes of course horses have teeth!”  
Even though Ouma was just winding up the other boy, he didn’t expect him to actually get caught up in this apparently humorous lie.  
“How do you know that?” Ouma wore a smug expression on his face, as if he knew some forbidden truth. “Have you ever seen a horses teeth?”  
“Of course I- wait, I don’t know...”  
He had been caught out. Ouma’s sly grin grew, as he knew he had won the meaningless conversation.  
“So you haven’t! Tah-dah! Ladies and gentlemen, there it is! The detective prince Saihara Shuichi has been defeated, and it has been proven that horses do indeed lack teeth!”

He was speaking these words quite loudly, catching the attention of several innocent patrons of the diner. Saihara attempted to subdue the almost shouting boy.  
“Don’t need to be so loud about it! Anyway, where do you get this stuff from, horses without teeth, all these strange ‘memes’...”  
A flush of red shot up Saihara’s face as he quietened the boy down. It was one of many a time Ouma had caused him to blush.  
“From the internet, of course! What, you don’t like memes, Saihara?”  
“It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that I don’t really get them most of the time.”  
With a sigh, Saihara took another mouthful of his syrup covered panakes.  
“Well they aren’t going anywhere, Saihara! Especially when you live with me, I ain’t never gonna stop memein’!”  
The cars drove on an the sun carried on shining the the windows of the early morning diner, and the meaningless conversations between the two carried on too.

“Do you think someone’s gonna recognise us in public soon?”  
Ouma very casually muttered this while reluctantly putting another forks worth of breakfast into his mouth.  
“Hmm? I don’t think so, I mean we aren’t that big.”  
Saihara replied, setting his hopes low.  
“I dunno really, I mean I wouldn’t be surprised though. We are getting pretty big now. It’s probably only a matter of time before we’re signing things in the streets!”  
“I guess so...”  
Saihara uttered, before returning to his breakfast.  
“Well it’s not like you’d do anything if a fan did approach you. You’d probably freeze in fear like the anxious emo you are!”  
Ouma finished of his teasing with his signature giggle.  
“H-hey! I’m not that bad!”  
Despite this exchange, nothing of note really happened between the two of them for what felt like an eternity.

In truth, It was not long until something of note would happen. It felt like this was happening a lot for them recently, but possibly the biggest thing that had ever happened to their music career was about to occur.   
‘bzzt’  
Ouma felt the subtle vibration from the phone in his pocket, signifying a notification. Normally, he would pay it no mind and continue to focus on the boy sitting in front of him. But for some reason, he felt compelled to slip the phone out of his trouser pocket and slightly tune out of the conversation to see what was up. As Saihara continued on about the most recent mystery novel he had read, Ouma read through the messages he had been sent.

Mr Adachi sir: hey kid, ever heard of trigger happy havoc?

From the first glance of the sarcastic nickname he had given him in his phone, Ouma was quite annoyed that Adachi was texting him. If he was being honest, he really didn’t want to talk to the shady businessman at this point in time. But that was before he had seen the content of the message. He wondered, why on earth would he be asking that? Without losing too much focus on the beautiful person in front of him, he tapped away at a response under the table.

Of course he knew who Trigger Happy Havoc were. They were the only band to have a quicker rise to fame than Killing Harmony. He recalled that the trio played at the same concert that he had first performed at, all those many months ago. Although they already had a decent following at that point, it was that concert that also spring-boarded them into the spotlight. But they had long surpassesed Killing Harmony, they now spent their time in sold out arenas, far above anything they had seen yet. Ouma just wondered why Adachi was asking this. They definitely weren’t on Adachi’s label, they were run by someone much, much bigger. Ouma typed out a quick response to Adachi that showed that he knew of the band.

“All this work has got me down, though. I never realised that university would be this much to handle.”  
Out of nowhere, Saihara had just switched the topic in a conversation Ouma was only half invested in.   
“Eh? What did you say?” Ouma impolitely asked.  
“I said that education is a bitch.” Saihara replied in complete deadpan.  
“You can say that again! Especially when your trying to take over the world, like I am!” Ouma hastily responded, part of his attention still on the phone in his hand.  
“You can’t say anything, Ouma. You’ve always been basically a prodigy all throughout school, you’ve had it easy work wise.”

The tables had been turned, and for once Saihara had made Ouma blush with his compliment.  
“Well, um... I don’t, uhh, I don’t think that’s really...”  
He knew full well Saihara was correct. He was incredibly intelligent, and found every level of education he had been through an absolute breeze. But he didn’t like to praise himself, no matter how much he deserved it. Thank god his phone went off again, saved by the bell. But when he read what was in Adachi’s next message, he experienced a rush of emotions that he could hardly describe.

Mr Adachi sir: well, I’ve got you guys booked as the support act for their upcoming world arena tour, your welcome

First, he felt confusion. He had to read through the message a couple more times before he knew what it actually said. Then, denial. It was probably just one of Adachi’s sick jokes, right? He’s that kinda guy to find joy in the suffering and sadness of people. But once this left, he was left with a rush of adrenaline, and excitement coursing through his entire body. It was enough to climb a mountain, enough to strut upon the biggest stage, enough to confess his undying love to Saihara right there and then. Ok, maybe not that much. But still, the reality of this hit him in waves. They were going to perform in an arena. The idea alone was pure madness, stuff of dreams. But yet, here he was, living life in this strange, perfect world. This was all some idealistic, perfect, nice dream Ouma was lost in.

Hardly containing his excitement, he lifted his phone up to Saihara, showing him the text and not caring if he was cutting him off.  
“Assemble the team, my beloved. We are hitting the big leagues!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I’m neglecting the other characters in this fic, but they will return to the relative spotlight soon!!  
> Can’t wait to write some of these big shows the boys will be playing very soon ;)
> 
> Thank you for reading!!


	30. Don’t you know who I think I am?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bus rides and first meetings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not releasing anything for w while! I guess other stuff just got in the way. I’ll try to make sure there isn’t that long between chapters again.
> 
> Please enjoy this chapter!!

Shining in the calm morning sun, a bus swiftly rolled down the highway, making its way to its destination with haste, wheels rolling repeatedly without flaw or failure. Black tinted windows and an overall polish gave away that this bus was important, or at lead owned by someone with a lot of money. That ‘someone’ being the record label that pretty much owned the band inside the bus. It definitely didn’t belong to the band, as they were just four broke kids, and a failed astronaut. This truth didn’t stop the excitement of being in a shiny new expensive tour bus. It also didn’t subdue the wild imagination and over ambition of that bands front man.

“And then, and you’ll never believe this, a hundred fireworks will go off at once, lighting up the sky! Sound good? I know it does right?”  
Ouma excitedly clutched onto the top of an open, red notebook, displaying the sprawled out content for everyone to see. The pages were littered with scribblings and doodles in pen, depicting various ideas for a larger than life stage show. Handwriting curled awkwardly, and every now and again the pen would seem to run out for a handful of now faded letters, but eventually return to transcribe the messy ideas. This crazed wording read out almost nonsensical phrases such as ‘set it all on fire, box of firewrks’ or ‘floating piano, abve crowd’, all misspelled, and needing a translator to figure out exactly what it all meant. This direct window into the wild mind of Ouma Kokichi was being peered into by his four bandmates, to various different reactions.

“It’s a little, um, what’s the word...” Kiibo quietly looked up from tapping away at a sleek laptop to reply. “Over ambitious?”  
“First of all, bot boy, that’s two words!”  
Kiibo could only roll his eyes at the now commonplace teasing that he had finally gotten used to, but he would never admit that he kind of liked it.  
“And second of all, i believe that we should aim as high as possible. We’ve got to have high hopes if we want to succeed, Kii-boy!” Exclaimed Ouma.  
“Uhm, I guess you’re right...” Kiibo muttered.  
“I know I’m right! C’mon, Kiibo, have a bit of faith in your leader!” A large grin was on Ouma’s face as he spoke these words of encouragement.  
“Yeah, I see now...” Kiibo sounded like he had just had a major revelation.  
“Yeah! We’re gonna make it!” Kiibo said rather loudly.  
After a silent moment of what appeared to be happy daydreaming, Kiibo put his head back down and returned to typing away.

“Even if we are gonna make it,” Amami began to contribute to the conversation, placing the book he was reading face down on the table on front of him, and standing up to approach the smaller boy. “It’ll be a long time before we can pull off-“  
He took the frayed notebook out of Ouma’s hands and closely studied the strange writings on the page, trying his hardest to pick out an example.  
“Stage above crowd? I think that’s what it says.” The green haired boy furrowed his brow as he read out the crazy idea.  
“Anyways, what I’m trying to say is even though it feels like we’re getting closer to the top, we aren’t there yet. We’re still a support band, so we’ve got a ways to go before pulling off these stunts.”  
Amami handed the notebook back, and the atmosphere on the bus turned slightly downbeat, as both Ouma and Kiibo had been brought back down to earth by Amami’s usual realistic self.

“Heh, you think I care about ‘rising to the top’? Excuse me? We already are at the top, Amami.” Looking back down, Ouma flipped through the notebook of aspirations he held in his hands one last time. The spine was barely hanging together, but against all odds, and because of the creative genius inside, it all held together. Ouma couldn’t help but feel it was symbolic. Of himself? The band? Maybe he was just thinking too much. He took this brief moment, before looking up at the boy in front of him.  
“The world just hasn’t realised it yet.”

“That’s kinda pretentious, dude...”   
Momota broke his silence and chimes in on the topic of Ouma’s enthused words. Saihara only looked on at the unfolding scene, most likely siding with Momota.  
“No, I didn’t really mean it-“ Ouma let out a deep sigh, and paused. He took the moment to think, and then continued talking.  
“I meant to say that ‘I’ think we’ve made it to the ‘top’, whatever that even means. As a group of musicians, no, as a group of my closest friends, I don’t think we can get any better. Am I saying we peaked early? No. Am I saying that we don’t have a lot more shit to go through? Definitely not!”  
Another drawn out sigh came from him.  
“But I believe in all of you, and maybe I don’t believe in myself, but just know that I have full faith in you guys. I know you guys have made it.”  
He deflated slightly after letting out that morale raising speech, his lungs thankful for the break.  
“Am I rambling? I’m rambling aren’t I...”

The bus stayed in silence after Ouma’s little speech. Whether they were dwelling on what had been said, or maybe just at a general loss for words, the only small noises were keyboard taps and pencil scribbles. But in his secluded corner of the bus, Saihara sat, starring at a small daydreaming boy. The one who was always the smartest person in the room, as well as cutest and most annoying simultaneously. As Saihara gazed at the way the natural light shifted around Ouma, he dwelled on his encouraging words, he knew one thing was true.  
Ouma Kokichi was born to lead this band.

 

They were all well acquainted with what the inside of an arena looked like. Large walls of seats stretching up to a lofty roof, scaffolding with lightning rigged to it, but all of that is forgotten when it’s complete empty. They had been lead through corridors by crew members upon entering, and were being taken to the main room of the place. When they entered, the pure scale of the room almost overwhelmed the five of them. It was probably enhanced by being stuck in the enclosed bus for what felt like an eternity, but the place was still almost stupidly large looking when empty.

“Whoa, this is...”  
Saihara mumbled underneath his breath, taking in the size of their surroundings.  
“This is big...”  
“Hah! That’s what she sai-“  
Before Ouma was given the chance to finish his immature comment, or for any eyes to roll, or any equally unfunny comebacks, because it was all undermined by a criminally loud strum of a guitar attached to the massive sound system. It shook them to their cores, causing them to physically jump from the impact, and maybe even damaging the structure of the building itself. As the sharp note finally faded out, Ouma looked towards the stage to see three people up there. They had everything plugged in and ready to go, and the well dressed one holding the guitar was smirking at the five of them with a real ‘better than you’ attitude about him. Looks like they had found their jump-scare culprit.

“Ugh, what are you doing here?”  
The noise from the microphone was almost the same as the guitar, deafening anyone foolish enough to enter unprepared. The figure behind the microphone continued on with their smug, dismissive words.  
“Can someone call security? We don’t need our support band right now, send them home. Or whatever, I don’t care.”  
He then swiftly turned around, and went to the back of the stage to do something or other. As they were being insulted and demeaned, the five boys slowly approached the stage itself, before eventually being beckoned up by a friendlier looking member of the band.

“Hi! Welcome, nice to meet you all! I’m Naegi, and, um, this is our band.”  
The browned haired boy kindly extended his hand, and shared a slightly awkward shake with Ouma.  
“Really? I’ve neeeever heard of trigger happy havoc before! Excited to hear your stuff!” Ouma replied, voice full of hopefully obvious sarcasm.  
“Ha, um, right...” Naegi replied, not making it obvious if he picked up on the true meaning to the other boys words.  
“Well, that over there is Kirigiri,”  
He pointed to the distant edge of the stage, where a uninterested, stern looking girl with purple hair stood, picking out notes on her bass guitar. Occasionally she would turn a few things on the amp beside her, but apart from that her interactions with others seemed limited.  
“Hey, wait a minute, I know that name, Kirigiri...” Momota quietly said this to himself, before the thought trailed off.

“And that, well that is Togami. He’s, ummm...”  
The short boy came across as cautious when talking about his bandmate, who was slowly approaching the group assembled on the stage.  
“I told the record label we didn’t want nor need a support band, but here they are.”  
His blonde hair shimmered, and light reflected off of a pair of short, square glasses. And his insistence on wearing a suit just made his ‘holier than thou’ aura all the stronger.  
“Just feel free to go home.” He looked directly at Ouma as he spoke. “You aren’t wanted or needed.”   
He turned his head up as he walked away, as if to say he was above these peasants.

Ouma could tell Togami just wanted all the spotlight to himself. He also knew that things could go very wrong if he were to be provoked by Ouma’s childlike personality. So that’s exactly what he went and did.  
“Hey Togami! Are you just scared that we’re better than you?”  
As he shouted this out, everyone in the room cringed at these words. The taller boy shot around, and immediately started to arrogantly stride toward the group. He went up close to Ouma, looking down on the smaller boy beneath him. Saihara’s urge to protect kicked in, but he stopped himself from intervening. He knew nothing would be done to Ouma.

“Listen here, child. If you anger me once more, I will not hesitate to have you thrown off of this tour. I can’t be bothered to deal with insolent kids like you.”  
He backed away, lessening the intimidation factor. Thinking that he had won the conversation, he tried to walk off with this success. Ouma had other ideas.  
“What, are you scaaaared, rich boy? Scared that we’re better than you?”  
An innocent but mischievous grin met Togami’s furious eyes, and he did not come across pleased about it. He turned around to say one more thing before leaving to backstage.  
“Oh trust me, you won’t be better than us when I destroy your career. And just know that I won’t hesitate.” He snapped.

“Please ignore him, he can be difficult some of the time. Well, all of the time, really.”  
Naegi chimed in after a brief moment of stunned silence from the majority.  
“I’m sure you will all be great! I’m looking forward to seeing you guys in action!”  
The brown haired boy reassured the stunned members, all apart from the outspoken frontman, who needed no reassurance.  
“Oh trust me, he shouldn’t underestimate anyone. Especially not these guys.” He gestured toward his bandmates behind him. “Especially not these guys!”

Ouma’s subtle exclusion of himself was not lost on Saihara, who just silently wished the boy would see the worth that was inside him for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, 30 chapters... that’s a lot lol...  
> I have a good idea of how much longer this will go on for, and I have pretty much everything planned out, the regrets, the shows, the confessions, all of it I have good ideas of what I’ll do with them, so stay tuned for all of that!!
> 
> Thank you all for sticking around through this fic of basically just cute interactions tbh
> 
> Thank you for reading!!


	31. All Within My Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final practices and preparations, all for one last time they must prove themselves, the final step to total world domination...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I had a good excuse for being so slow..... the truth is I’m just lazy and unmotivated... sorry lol
> 
> I hope you enjoy, thank you for reading!!

Kiibo always felt like a side character in life. Someone on the side to the protagonists forging their own path through every story. An npc to simply dispense dialogue to the relevant characters with consciousness. He was always just someone who was forgotten later on in the quest, an irrelevant zero compared to the important ones running the show. He was also getting sick of these metaphors. The point is, Kiibo was never at the front of anything important. But with this band, with the formation of Killing Harmony, he felt himself slowly creep from the side character slot, closer to a shared protagonist place in his story.

He specifically had this rush of emotion right after their soundcheck had started. It had not been long since the confrontation between Togami and Ouma had settled down, and the remaining two members courteously gave them some time to sort themselves out onstage. As wires ran up to amps, and a thumbs up was given from the sound desk up front, the boys began to figure out what they were doing. As Kiibo stood, centre stage, he effortlessly strummed the instrument he grasped in his hands. For once, his guitar was not quiet, it was not muted, it was not confined by his cheap amp in his bedroom, limited by the walls of the apartment. For once, the full tone expanded to the extent of the empty arena, commanding full power and impact, an amount only a worthy main character could muster. His pristine white hair was almost knocked out of its well kept shape with the power of that single power chord.

“Woah.”   
Kiibo found himself able to only mutter this one, small word. He was truly overwhelmed by everything going on, the realisation of how far they had come, his new found lead in his story, and how great his guitar sounded on the massive speakers imposing above themselves above the small group. He did it a few more times, each time the guitar sounded he took in the glory and success that washed over his entire body. It felt good to do this well in life.

“You enjoying yourself, Kiibo?”  
Saihara’s soft, kind voice asked Kiibo this question once the now monstrous roar of the guitar had wound down. He didn’t realise how carried away he had gotten.  
“Oh, um, sorr-“  
Before his usual apology could get out, Saihara interrupted.  
“What do you mean?. You really don’t have anything to apologise for, you know. We’re all feeling the same way.”  
Saihara said this while adjusting the strap of his own guitar, before playing a few notes himself, trying on the incomprehensibly large sound system for size.  
“Wait, so I’m not the only one pissed off by that long legged rich boy? Nice to know!”  
Ouma chimed in, his voice full of frustration and contempt.  
“No Ouma... I meant the feeling of... I don’t really know how to put it...”  
Saihara paused. He couldn’t quite place this feeling that they all currently shared.

“Power? Probably not the right word, but we really do have a lot of presence right now. I mean look, we can fill an arena with sound made by just our hands. That... that is just crazy, really.”  
Looking down at his hands for a brief moment, Saihara had the same moment of realisation that Kiibo just had.  
“Whatever, I’ll let you guys get on with that, I’m still annoyed with that stuck up bastard, thinking he’s better than us.”  
Ouma’s words turned into a low grumbling, as he paced up and down the stage. His stubborn pout, crossed arms and squared shoulders were an attempt to make himself look more intimidating, but came across as adorable. The end result was a flush of red on Saihara’s face, as well as an increase in his heart rate.

“Well, we have to do what we do best, prove him wrong!”  
Momota shouted from the back of the stage, followed by a small test of his drum kit, each impact pounding in the chest of the five of them. The novelty of scale hadn’t worn off yet.  
“And I’m looking forward to it! I like a good challenge.” Momota smirked, now twirling one drumstick around his fingers.  
“Always confident, eh spaceman? I’m glad you think this is all fun and games...”  
Ouma carried on grumbling, trying to focus on warming up his voice at the same time.

“Don’t be so down. It’ll be fine, I can tell. And if I’m saying that, you know it’s gonna go well.” Amami stated, his usual wisdom reassuring Ouma slightly.  
“This guy is our last roadblock, our last obstacle to get past.” Passion and motivation was incredibly present in Ouma’s words, as well as a slight tinge of anger.  
“Just one of many we’ve had to deal with, but I’m not going to calm down yet. This guy could ruin everything, drop us at any moment. We would have come this far to get ended in one fell swoop. And I won’t let that happen. Yeah, we’ll prove him wrong. We’ll do better. We’ll become the greatest of em all!”  
He didn’t realise how loud he was being until silence fell upon the very large room they stood in.  
“I guess... I guess I got too carried away with another one of my ‘impassioned speeches’. Sorry...”  
Ouma tiredly plopped himself down onto a large black amp on the side of the stage, regaining his composure after that half rant, half pep talk.

“Hey, don’t be so down on yourself.”  
Ouma looked up from his slump to see the hopeful eyes of Saihara, and an outstretched hand.  
“Your motivational words are partially the only reason we’re still in this, I mean it! So many times we thought it was over, but you’ve been there to drag us out of it. This is our biggest challenge yet, so why not have the biggest speech beforehand?”  
Saihara’s smile was warm as he told Ouma the truth, a truth that was actually good for once in their lives. Ouma’s heart melted at this gesture of kindness.  
“So let’s get to work. What do you say, leader?”

And on the biggest stage they’ve ever step foot on, hooked up to the loudest amps they could imagine, in front of the most seats they could ever hope to stand in front of, with the largest expectation weighing on their backs, the five of them begun to play once again, this time to prove themselves to the world. A turning point was on the horizon, and whether they seized this moment, or just let it pass them by was about to become apparent to the world. One last show to prove themselves worthy of being the greatest band in the world.

But from the side of the stage, seething eyes behind shining glasses stared intently. He knew they were a great band. A better band, even. The chemistry between them was undeniable, and they had the skill to match. But he wouldn’t be upstaged. Not on his stage, not on his tour. He had to fight the urge to remove them right there and then, purely on the basis of annoying him. These thoughts were stopped when he his deep thinking was ‘rudely’ interrupted by his own bandmate.

“I can tell what you’re thinking, Togami...”  
He pushed up his glasses and turned around, not even looking at Kirigiri beside him. He just walked straight past her, deeper into the back of the stage. But as expected, she followed behind him. She had adapted to his constant ‘holier than thou’ aura.  
“And what may that be.” His voice was smug and full of himself, as per usual.  
“You can’t just kick them off because you don’t like them, Togami.”  
As soon as she said this, Togami stopped strolling through the backstage area with ease, and turned round to face her.

“Do not tell me what I can and can’t do with my-“  
“Our band.”   
He was swiftly cut off before he could even finish his very possessive sentence.  
“Just please. Give them this one chance. I believe in them. So does Naegi. And so what if they’re are a better band? Trigger happy havoc will still remain.”  
Togami silently took in Kirigiri’s words, before giving her a look that said ‘okay, if you insist’, before moving away as if he had somewhere better to be. 

Kirigiri took one last glance at the band currently practicing on the large stage. She could feel the energy. She could feel that special unknown feeling which people would only feel while watching the greatest band of all time. Maybe it was too early to say (and also rather cheesy), but she felt that maybe they really were the greatest band of all time. Only time would tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t decide, 35 or 36 chapters in total? I don’t know, one of those two, the number is subject to change. It’s all coming to an end soon! The show must go on...
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and I hope to see you on the next chapter!!


	32. Twin Fantasy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The band prepares for their biggest show yet. Saihara and Ouma comfort eachother before it all goes down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow ok I am sorry for taking such a long break,, I have just been busy, I took part in writing a fangame called danganronpa solitary which took up a lot of my time writing, and I’ve just had a complete lack of motivation otherwise,,, but I’m here now, and I’m ready to finish up the final few parts of this fic,, I hope you enjoy!!

Turn. Twist. A slight adjustment. Pick a dissonant note, realise it’s still out of tune. Go back to twisting back and forth, testing the string, and repeating this until everything was in it's right place. It was the part of playing guitar that Saihara never liked. Tuning always felt long and tedious, something in the way of you playing and sitting and fiddling with the instrument. But it needed to be done. If it sounded bad, what’s the point of even playing?

But in this context, everything was different. Previously, tuning his guitar involved sitting alone in his room, listening intently to ensure each string produced the correct sound. Or maybe it was in the company of his bandmates, either way, it was a quiet, uneventful and annoying task. It was boring.

It was not so boring when sitting backstage in the largest arena he had seen in his life. Crew members passing him every other second, the density of the idle chatter from the amassing crowd which was so close to him, it all felt a lot different to anything he’d ever experienced before. Especially not when tuning his trusty guitar. Despite this, he sat adjusting his instrument as usual, ensuring it's all perfect, and ready to go. Ready for the biggest show so far. Ready for the most important moment of his life. Ready for the make or break moment.

It was a lot more stressful when he put it that way.

He tried his hardest to not think about everything to much. He would just go out there, do what he had been doing for months now, and walk off. He would pay no mind to the vast sea of people judging his every move, the volatile ocean of individuals to impress with his skills. He would pay not a single thought to the scale and importance of his every move. Not a single thought. At least that’s what he repeated in his head to try and comfort himself.

He usually never let his anxieties about performing get to him, but this was an entirely different situation. It was difficult to keep composed in this situation. With the world happening around him, he wanted to leave, return to his bed, and maybe try again another day. But he had to do this. They all had to do this. It was all or nothing, now or never.

“Hey! What’s up my beloved?”  
Saihara could recognise the chipper voice of Ouma through any wall of noise, or any overwhelming situation. He would never say it out loud, but he found the shorter boys sweet voice comforting in stressful times. He really was in love with the boy…  
“Oh, just uh, tuning my guitar…” even though he thought he was composed, his faltering voice didn’t reflect this.  
Ouma sat himself down next to Saihara as the conversation continued, the pair of them now sitting on a large equipment case.  
“You okay, Saihara? Ya sound… not great.” Ouma questioned, worried for the boy.  
“No, no, I’m fine, I’m completely fine.” He lied.  
Ouma sensed a problem in Saihara from these few words.  
“You really don’t seem it.”   
Of course Ouma could see through his obvious lie. Saihara didn’t know why he thought he could slip one past Ouma.

“Okay, maybe I am a bit nervous about this.” He quietly admitted. “I should be strong for you guys, for you especially, but I’m not…”  
“What do you mean?” Ouma wore a confused look on his face. “You helped me through so much earlier on in this whole thing, so I’m here to quell your stage fright!”  
“I feel dumb about this whole thing, I shouldn’t be so afraid, I shouldn’t be so nervous, I shouldn-“

Ouma places his finger over Saihara’s lips, effectively silencing the self deprecating boy. He didn’t care about any weird looks passing crew members gave the pair.  
“Don’t you dare speak bad of yourself like that. You have every right to be nervous. To be afraid. I should know, I’ve been there.” The smaller boy looks to the side dejectedly, before continuing.  
“And you were there throughout all of my struggles. You told me to keep breathing, to stay calm, and that everything would be alright.”  
He took his hand from over his lips and placed it over Saiharas hand, a sweet gesture which obviously meant more than friendship.  
“What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t do the same for you?”

In that instant, both of them realised that they wanted to be more than just friends.

A few moments of relative silence passed by, with both boys not knowing what to say, yet enjoying the time they were at peace. 

“Thank you Ouma, I feel better, I think. I… I’m glad to be doing this whole thing with you. I’m so glad to see you’re able to live out your dream.” Saihara said with a soft smile, a smile that melted the heart of the other boy.

“Well, there’s no one else I’d rather have at my side than you.”  
Under any other circumstances, the pair would blush at how romantic this sounded, but at this point it was obvious that they both knew. It was only a matter of time before they awkwardly stumbled their way to a confession.

But this was not that time. What felt like a quiet, personal moment was actually happening in a crowded backstage area, and after being cursed out by a crew member, they had to move elsewhere. And just as they had relocated, the time had come. It was the time in which they must find their fellow bandmates, and walk onto the biggest stage imaginable. With each step the pair took towards the stage, the anxiety built up inside them. Even though it was a short walk, both Saihara and Ouma would agree that it felt like a lifetime had passed.

It was all made easier by the fact that they kept their hands linked throughout the whole walk there.

The other boys looked alright. Momota, Amami and Kiibo all seemed composed as they stood to the side of the stage, waiting for the final thumbs up. As the pair approached them, the reality started to sink in. The five stood as a band, together. They were on the precipice, peering over the edge of a very long drop. Whether that fall had a something soft to break the fall, or hard concrete to splatter onto, only time would tell.

From his position, Saihara could peek into the full arena. It was definitely full, and this fact should’ve made him feel worse. But in the presence of his friends, he didn’t feel a thing. He really felt completely calm, like nothing was nothing him. It felt normal. It felt natural to be there. To be about to enter the stage, to be in the presence of his friends, to be in the presence of Ouma.

“Alright, all set?” Ouma cheerfully asked the others.  
“All set.” Amami shortly responded.  
“I guess I am…” Kiibo mumbled.  
“I was born ready! Let’s get this going!” Momota loudly stated.  
Saihara just nodded, showing that he was on the same page as the others.  
“Ok then! I guess this is it, huh? I can’t wait!” The excitement in Ouma’s voice was almost childlike. It caused a warm smile to appear on Saihara’s face, as he realised how much he loved the boy.

Momota had seen these small things, such as Saihara’s reactions to the boys words, and a quick glance of them holding hands. He was just glad that the pair of them were finally starting to figure things out. The hopeless romantic fumbling would end soon, and Momota was just glad to see his friends so happy.

The five boys stayed silent in anticipation. None of them knew what to say, and they just wanted to get up there and do their best. The time crept on and on and on, but they felt fine. Any anxieties had completely dissolved from inside Saihara. Only a calmness and confidence remained.

Eventually, the time came. For real this time, this was it. Another moment in which every choice they had made so far had led them to it. As Ouma climbed up the staircase onto the expansive stage, he only had one thought racing through his mind. As he looked over the sea of people, as he heard the cheering, as the lights went out, he had only one thought.

“We made it.”

And made it they had. The crowd radiated pure energy as Killing harmony began their first show of this scale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I really like this AU, and I have fun writing it. Thank you for reading!


End file.
